Evaluation of different spring rice genotypes for seedling stage growth at Tulsipur, Dang, Nepal

Abstract

Rice is the fundamental staple crop of Nepal. For food security, the production rate of main season rice is insufficient; nevertheless, spring rice can be a possibility. Spring rice is short duration crop as compared to the main season crop as, it can be best utilized through its cultivation. An experiment on spring rice (Oryza sativa) was performed to examine ten different elite rice genotypes in irrigated seedling stage at Campus of Live Sciences, Tulsipur, Dang from April to May 2023 with an objective to assess the response of different genotypes of seedling stage under controlled environment condition and to compare seedling stage growth and development of different spring rice variety The study was conducted with three replications on a completely randomized design (CRD). Data on the seedlings' growth was gathered at intervals of ten days. The outcome showed that there were statistical differences in morphological features between various genotypes. In comparison to other plants, IR09R270 had the highest average plant height (12.9 cm), IR17A106 had the greatest amount of leaves (2.44), IR09R270 had the greatest length of leaves (6.59 cm), Svin080 had the widest leaves (0.18 cm), IR112208B-B-RGA-BRGA had the longest shoots length (16.46 cm), and IR112208B-B-RGA-BRGA had the longest roots length (9.30 cm). The sample with the highest percentage of germination (85.65%) was IR112208B-B-RGA-BRGA. The majority of genotypes were found to have heritability more than 60%, indicating a greater contribution from genetic factors than environmental conditions. It was discovered that the phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) was marginally larger than the genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV), suggesting that the environment had little effect on how characters are expressed. The study's conclusions demonstrated that the rice genotypes IR09R270 and IR112208B-B-RGA-BRGA were preferable to other elite genotypes found in the Terai region. In conclusion under irrigated conditions, rice genotypes IR09R270 and IR112208B-B-RGA-BRGA performed well.