Adaptation and Selection Early and High Yielding Production of Some Exotic Rice Genotyps Under Egyption Conditions

Abstract

IGHTEEN introduced rice genotypes along with two local cultivars were evaluated in two successive seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt for grain yield and associated agronomic characters. Analysis of variance showed very highly significant differences among rice genotypes for all growth parameters assessed. Grain yield for most of studied rice genotypes was higher than check cultivars and AFR0280, AFR278-2-2 and AFR278-8 which had an average yield of 14.26, 14.03 and 14.00 (t/ha), respectively under both seasons. Genotypic variance was observed greater than environmental variance. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was close to the genotypic coefficient variation (GCV), this indicating the influence of genetic factors on the expression of the characters studied. High broad-sense heritability (>85%) observed for all studied characters, this suggests that these traits are inherited by additive gene action and can be enhanced through direct selection. Grain yield was positively and strongly correlated with plant height, leaf (length and width), leaf area, panicle length, primary branches, panicle weight, spikelet per panicle and filled grains per panicle. The dendogram obtained from the cluster analysis divided the twenty rice genotypes into four clusters according to yield and its component traits. Hence it is suggested that, these characters could be used as a phenotypic marker for selecting the desirable genotype in the rice breeding programme.