Morphological Screening and Genetic Variability Analysis in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes for Salinity Tolerance

This experiment was conducted to estimate the genetic variability and correlation between yield and yield related characters of 22 rice genotypes at Genetics and Plant Breeding Farm of Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya. This experiment was laid in Randomized Block Design (RBD) during Kharif season of 2022-23 under saline condition. Analysis of variance shows significant differences among 22 rice genotypes under saline condition. GCV (Genotypic coefficient of variation) and PCV (Phenotypic coefficient of variation) estimates were higher for traits such as panicle bearing tillers/plant, harvest index and biological yield indicating selection of rice genotypes for yield and component traits under saline condition. High heritability coupled with higher genetic advance was observed for traits like grains/panicle, days to 50% flowering, spikelets number and plant height. Grain yield/plant was strongly related to harvest index, panicle bearing tiller /plant and biological yield per plant. Path coefficient analysis showed that harvest index followed by biological yield /plant and panicle bearing tillers/plant has positive direct effect on grain yield/plant.