Study on Genetic Variability for Quantitative and Quality Parameters in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Genetic variability is the prime and fundamental requirement for any crop breeding to develop superior varieties which yields more and fulfills the demanding requirements of increasing population.The current study investigates twenty genotypes of rice, including one check variety NDR-359, that were raised in the Field Experimentation Centre of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, SHUATS, Prayagraj during Kharif 2022 using a Randomized Block Design with three replications.The best genotypes for grain yield per plant were chosen based on the mean performance of genotypes RNR – 1446, followed by MTU - 1121, JGL – 24423, and Rango Komal. All of the qualities under examination had significant differences, according to the analysis of variance. The characters viz., Biological yield, Grain yield per hill, Number of spikelets per panicle exhibited high Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV) and Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV). For all the features under study, there were very slight variations between GCV and PCV, indicating that the environment had little to no impact on these individuals. High heritability recorded in Biological yield (95.92%), Grain yield per hill (91.89%), Panicle length (91.80%), Plant height (91.00%) and Days to 50% flowering (87.81%), whereas moderate heritability observed in Flag leaf width (47.08%). High heritability coupled with genetic advance as percent mean is recorded in Biological yield (77.10), Grain yield per hill (59.72), Panicle length (24.65) and Plant height (34.50) indicating that simple selection could be effective for improving these characters. Correlation results shown that grain yield per hill exhibited highly and significantly correlation with biological yield and Number of spikelets per panicle. The results of the Path coefficient analysis revealed that both phenotypic and genotypic levels, had positive direct effects on grain yield while compare with parameters like Biological yield, Harvest index %, Number of panicles per hill and Days to 50% flowering. Quality characters i.e., hulling (%), cooking and eating characters i.e., kernel length and breadth before and after cooking, elongation ratio was taken for 19 genotypes. As per mean performance highest maximum grain length was observed in Kasturi, DRRH2, highest elongation ratio observed in MTU - 1121 and NLR - 40024.