Abstract
The carbonized grains of rice, Oryza sativa L., excavated at Non Yang Site, Thailand, were used for investigations on morphological characters. The values of grain length, width, thickness, ratios of length to width, length to thickness, width to thickness, area, volume and weight were found to be 4.81mm, 2.44mm, 1.79mm, 1.98, 2.71, 1.38, 11.75mm2, 20.95mm3 and 8.23mg on the average, respectively. Based on the data obtained here, the materials corresponded to the round, A type, japonica variety. Among 15 character-combinations, the correlation coefficients of 6, 1, 1 and 7 items were significant at the 0.1%, 1% and 5% levels and not significant even at the 5% level, respectively.
In the case of unhusked grains, based on the converted values, the average values of length, width and ratio of length to width were found to be 6.69mm, 2.88mm and 2.34, respectively. The materials also corresponded to the A type. The materials consisted of one or a few varieties, based on the small intra-population variations in the respective characters measured.
In comparison with the present and the past data, the present materials were remarkably short length with a low value for width and ratio of length to width. Historically, grain length and width increased with time in East Thailand.
