Correlation between selected morphological floral characters and yield components related traits in <em>Oryza sativa</em> L.

Abstract

Rice (<em>Oryza sativa</em> L.) is the most important cereal crop in the developing world and is the staple food of over half of the world’s population. There is a consistent demand for increased production of rice from across the globe, Asia in particular. Morphological characteristics of different floret traits are considered to have greater importance in increasing self pollination for reliable seed production in rice. In this context, understanding the relationship between various morphological characteristics of floral organs and reliability of self-pollination and thereby enhancing the yield gains value. Floral characteristics such as large anthers or lengthened filaments tend to release greater quantities of pollen into the surrounding environment, and large, extruding stigmas that readily intercept foreign pollen grains can be associated with increased outcrossing rates in some land races and cultivars. Here, we studied precisely the same and measured the yield improvement in terms of filled grains per panicle in 10 parental and six F₁ generations. The experimental material consisted of four traditionally grown and nutrition rich medicinal landraces, and six improved high yielding varieties along with six F₁ hybrids raised in randomized block design during Kharif 2013. Based on <em>per se</em> performance, important floral traits and pollen fertility, two F₁ hybrids namely ADT 39 x Kavuni and ADT 43 x Navara proved good. In F₁'s six hybrids, various floral characters that directly correlated with the number of filled grains per panicle as positive and significant were anther length (0.485), stigma breadth (0.478), ovary length (0.523) and pollen fertility (0.767). The floral traits directly correlated with a number of filled grains per panicle as positive and significant were anther length, stigma breadth, ovary length and pollen fertility, as negative significant was ovary breadth. For the trait stigma breadth, style length and style breadth showed positive and significant inter correlation. Genetic improvement in these rice floral traits through selection of best hybrids exercised for reliable self-pollination for increasing the yield as demonstrated in this study may ensure meeting the demand in future.