Performance of Doubled Haploid Elite Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Germplasm for Grain Yield and Associated Traits in Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in 2018/2019 growing season at the Scientific Industrial Research and Development Center under irrigated conditions using the simple alpha lattice (7 ∗ 7) design, with three replications. The objective of the study was to determine the performance of 44 elite rice lines that were selected and shared from elite doubled haploid germplasm and five cultivars were used as checks. All evaluated genotypes exhibited significant variation in the traits measured except for number of grains/panicle, total tillers/plant, and effective tillers/plant. Elite line 70462 was found to be the highest yielding, with yield advantage of 66% over the high yielding local check (Nerica 7). High values for broad sense heritability were recorded for days to 50% heading, panicle length, culm length, number of filled grains/panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain length, grain shape, and grain yield and indicated lesser influence of environment in expression of these traits, hence amenable to simple selection. Correlation analysis revealed that grain yield manifested significantly positive correlation with filled grains/panicle contributing the highest correlation (r = 0.784), followed by culm length (r = 0.605), spikelet fertility/panicle (r = 0.677), grain length (r = 0.551), 1000-grain weight (r = 0.518), panicle length (r = 0.449), and number of grains/panicle (r = 0.328). Based on grain yield, number of filled grains/panicle and spikelet fertility/panicle, panicle length, and earliness, lines 70462, 60143, 70383, Arica 3, Sahel 177, 6040, 70537, 60409, and 70476 had the best performance. Selection of these traits would be more effective for yield improvement in rice and these promising lines could be used in the varietal development and can be tested in multilocational trials and on-farm trials in Zimbabwe with the possibility of release and commercialization.

Genetic Studies for Selected Agronomic Traits in 19 Maintainer Genotypes of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

“…This suggests that improving TPP and SFT traits through selection will enchance grain yield per plant. This result is aligns with findings from previous studies that reported the significant positive correlation of TPP [62][63][64] and SFT [64][65][66] with yield.…”

Agronomic performance and selection of green super rice doubled haploid lines from anther culture

“…Anshori et al (2022) suggested that DH technology could accelerate the release of new varieties of rice. Several elite lines have been obtained from the results of DH development including 28 black rice lines with good agronomic characters (Alsabah et al 2019), 15 DH rice lines that are tolerant to salinity stress (Anshori et al 2022), 2 lines superior rice widely adaptable in all locations (Akbar et al 2021a), 9 lines DH that have the best performance based on the character of grain yield, number of grain content per panicle, percentage of grain content, and panicle length (Chitanda et al 2022), rice being injected with genes for resistance to blast and bacterial leaf blight (Chauhan et al 2021), 4 varieties of hybrid rice (Sharma et al 2021), and 129 DH plants from biparental crosses (Tripathy 2022).…”