ESTIMATING QUANTITATIVE TRAITS BASED PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY IN DIVERSE RICE GERMPLASM.

Rice is one of the important staple food crops and cultivated worldwide. In present study we have evaluated 49 diverse rice germplasm for economically important quantitative traits. Thirty key yield related traits including days to heading and maturity, percent lodging, ligule length, number of nodes, peduncle length, grain yield, leaf length/width, plant height, stem height and diameter, primary and secondary branches/panicle, total tillers and productive till-ers/plant, 1,000 grains weight, grain length, breadth and thickness, etc. were measured. All the genotypes showed varied response to different traits. Maximum grain yield/plant (23g) and seed yield/plant (25g) was recorded in IR-84675-7-3-2-B-B and IRGC 33498 genotypes, respectively. The elite genotypes IR-OSF101, IR80416-B-32-3, IR-84678-25-5-B, IR-84677-21-1-B, IR-84675-7-3-2-B-B, IRGC 29008, IRGC 25926, IRGC 33498, IR-83140-B-32-B, HH25-SAL-9Y3-Y1, IRO-4L-191 and IR-83142-B-79-B were also noted that showed better morphological performances than other genotypes. The high yielding elite rice genotypes are recommended for breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]