Vol. 6, Issue 12 (2017)

Author(s):
Neha Srivastava, G Suresh Babu, Onkar Nath Singh, Ramlakhan Verma, Sudhir K Pathak, Monalisa Behra, Debarchana Jena and Madhu Chanda

Abstract:
Upland rice is important for sustainable crop production to meet future food demands. The expansion in area of irrigated rice faces limitations due to water scarcity resulting from climate change. Therefore, this research aimed to identify potential genotypes and suitable traits of upland rice germplasm for breeding programmes. Twenty two genotypes were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications during Kharif 2013, Kharif 2014 and Rabi 2015. All genotypes exhibited a wide and significant variation for 16 traits. The highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation was recorded for the filled grains/panicle, spikelet per panicle and plant height. The highest heritability was found for filled grains/panicle, spikelet per panicle, plant height, test weight, flag leaf length and yields/plant (g). Cluster analysis based on 16 traits grouped the 22 rice genotypes into five clusters. Cluster I was the largest and consisted of 13 genotypes. The first five principle components of 16 traits accounted for about 83.71% of the total variation and indicated a wide variation among the genotypes. The selected best trait of the number of filled grains/panicle and spikelet/panicle which showed high heritability and high genetic advance, could be used as a selection criterion for hybridization programmes in the future.