Evaluation of Exotic Rice Varieties for Genetic Parameters in a Nigerian Agro-Ecology

Abstract

Aim: The research focused on the performance of six exotic rice genotypes from Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in a Nigerian agro-ecology. Study Design: The varieties were evaluated in randomized complete block design replicated three times. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the research fields Crop, Soil and Pest Management, The Federal University of Technology Akure and Plant Science and Biotechnology Department, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria during the rainy and dry seasons of 2012/2013. Methodology: During the period the rice varieties were planted to test for their ability to adapt to a Nigerian eco-system. The characters measured include plant height, number of tillers/hill, effective tillers with panicle, tillers without panicle, flag leaf length, panicle length, panicle weight, number of grains per panicle, number of spikelet per panicle, 1000_grain weight, number of filled grains per panicle, number of unfilled grains per panicle, grain length, grain width, number of days to heading, Original Research Article Osekita et al.; IJPSS, 5(6): 350-358, 2015; Article no.IJPSS.2015.087 351 number of days to maturity and grain yield per hill. Results: Grain yield exhibited significant correlations with number of tillers per hill (0.733), effective tillers with panicle (0.826), panicle length (0.305) and panicle weight (0.339) which is a useful guide for selection in further breeding studies. Conclusion: This study revealed the significant contributions of number of tillers per hill, effective tillers with panicle, panicle length and panicle weight as the sole determinant of total yield.