Seedling morphological diversity of traditional rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties of Tamil Nadu during Navarai season

Abstract

Tamil Nadu state of India has nearly 1200 traditional rice varieties under Farmers field. The present field investigation was made in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University farm, Coimbatore during Navarai, 2022 season to study the morphological diversity of seedlings of twenty-five traditional rice varieties. Seedling morphological characters such as coleoptile anthocyanin colouration on 7 days after sowing (DAS), seedling height, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf area and seedling drymatter on 20 DAS were measured. The results revealed that rice varieties such as Chandikar, Chithiraikar, Kallundaikar and Paal Thondi had shown strong coleoptile anthocyanin colouration. Seedlings of varieties such as Chandikar and Maranel grew taller than others and fell in very tall (>35 cm) seedling grouping. Production of number of leaves on 20 DAS was significantly more in Paal Thondi, than all other varieties. Longer leaves of rice were measured in Maranel over other varieties. Leaf blade was significantly broader in Kallundaikar, Maranel, Kalanamak, Attur Kichadi Samba, Chandikar and Thooyamalli compared to others. When comparing among varieties, Maranel, Kallundaikar and Thooyamalli varieties measured significantly more leaf area than other varieties under study. Drymatter of rice seedlings was significantly more in Maranel variety compared to other varieties. Based on the above results it can be inferred that seedling morphology of traditional rice varieties of Tamil Nadu during Navarai season had more genetic diversity and can effectively contribute to gene pool.