Abraham O.G., Nwokeocha C.C., Faluyi J.O.

Heritability patterns of some agro-botanical characters related to yield and drought tolerance in two landraces of rice

Abstract Two landraces of rice, AWGUII-04 and IJ-124, were characterised and assessed for phenotypic variability, heritability, genetic advance and modes of inheritance of some primary yield and drought-tolerance traits. The target traits for yield were a percentage of filled spikelets, plant form, tillering, and for drought tolerance, leaf rolling, ratooning and maturity. This study was carried out to help both breeders and farmers make a wise choice when carrying out hybridisation and on the field. Hybridisation produced three F₁ hybrids that were advanced to F₂ generation. Quantitative and qualitative vegetative and reproductive data were taken from each F₂ population. The results obtained showed high heritability (62–100%) in all the thirty-eight vegetative and reproductive traits. The genetic advance was high (> 20%) in all the target traits except for leaf rolling. The traits segregated in the following ratio: plant growth form – 9:6:1; the percentage of filled spikelets – 13:3; ratooning – 3:1; maturity – 15:1; the number of tillers – 15:1 and leaf rolling – 15:1. The high heritability of the above traits makes them highly dependable for rice crop improvement.

Doi https://doi.org/10.2478/botlit-2020-0016

Keywords breeding, drought-tolerance, fertility, genetic inheritance, hybridisation, rice, yield

Full text