Genetic variability and character association for yield and yield components in submergence tolerant rice varieties

Fifty diverse paddy genotypes were evaluated under low land submerged field condition at two different locations i.e. Hingalganje (North 24 Pgs, West Bengal) and Baruipur (South 24 Pgs, West Bengal) during the kharif seasons for three consecutive years of 2011, 2012 and 2013 for the study of association between yield and yield components under submerged condition where the water depth was more than 50 cm at least for two weeks at the vegetative stage of crop. On the basis of mean performances genotypes viz., Mahananda, Sabita, Nagalmuda, Lakshmikajal, Purnendu and Jaladhi II performed better for seed yield than the tolerant checks. High broad sense heritability along with high genetic gain over mean was also observed for plant height, grains/panicle, test weight, and seed yield. Fertile grains per panicle, panicle length and test weight (1000 seed weight) are consistently highly positively correlated with the seed yield. These yield attributes were the major contributing traits for seed yield in rice under submergence in the set of genotypes under study.