Assessment of variation in rice maintainer lines using principal component analysis.

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics essential for a maintainer line to effectively complement the A lines in hybrid rice production. The experiment was conducted at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jagtial and Telangana, India during kharif, 2016 (June-October). A total of 40 genotypes were raised in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with two replications. PCA identified five principal components (PCs) with Eigen values over 1, collectively accounting for approximately 75.50% of the total variance. PC1 predominantly representing yield and related features (number of tillers per plant, panicle length, length-to-breadth ratio, grain yield per plant), while the other PCs corresponded to unique aspects like grain numbers, morphological and quantitative traits. The study also utilized biplot analysis to elucidate the relationships among these traits, revealing significant correlations and interactions crucial for rice breeding. It indicated a negative correlation between 1000 grain weight, kernel breadth, and the number of grains per panicle, while showing positive correlations among traits influencing grain yield. This method also proved assistance in identifying superior genotypes for specific traits, as exemplified by genotypes JMS18B and JMS20B excelling in grain numbers per panicle and genotype B18 standing out in grain yield and other yield-related traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]