Abstract
Forty-eight lowland rice genotypes with two checks were evaluated for agronomic performance, genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing traits. Genotypes SR33859-HB3324-133 (45.7 qha-1), SR33859-HB3324-93 (40.2 qha-1) were the high yielding genotypes above the better check. The analysis of variance showed significant differences for all measured traits and indicating the presence of high genetic variability among genotypes. A highly significant (P≤0.001) correlations were observed between flag leaf length and plant height (rp= 0.76 and rg=0.84), panicle length and plant height (rp= 0.77, rg= 0.90), and panicle length and flag leaf length (rp= 0.75 and rg= 0.89). The estimates of GCV were lower than the respective PCV for all traits, indicating the influence of environmental factors on the expression of the traits. Characters like grain yield (94 % and 90.9), flag leaf length (97 % and 71.6), number of effective tillers per hill (91 % and 67.2) and plant height (99.0 % and 50.7) showed high heritability coupled with moderate genetic advance as percent of the mean, which suggesting that these traits are controlled by the additive type of gene action and selection could be possible for the improvement of these characters. Moderate heritability estimates with low genetic advance as percent of the mean were recorded for flag leaf width and number of days to maturity indicated the presence of non-additive gene effects, and selection for these traits would be poor. As a result, the variability that exists in the germplasm provides an opportunity to use these genotypes in the genetic improvement program.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is most commonly produced in Asia, Africa, and Australia (Dogara and Jumare, 2014)
The success of breeding depends on the extent and the magnitude of variability existing in the germplasm, the heritability of the traits, and information on the genetic variability, and degree of transmission of the target traits
A field experiment was conducted at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Kampala, Uganda in the two cropping seasons of 2015 with the objective of evaluating the genetic variability of KAFACI materials for yield and yield related traits
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is most commonly produced in Asia, Africa, and Australia (Dogara and Jumare, 2014). It is the third most cultivated cereal crop in the world, after wheat and maize (FAO, 2018). According to Dewina et al, (2010) rice accounted for 0.42 % of the total production of food crops in Uganda and ranking fifth after maize, cassava, bananas, and beans. Paddy rice production in Uganda ranged from 72,000 to 97,505 hectares with a total yield of 109 to 262,631 thousand tonnes respectively from 2000 to 2017 (FAO, 2018). Creating genetic variability either by crossing and/or introduction would be one of the solutions to increase the chance of selection and success in the breeding program. Heritability indicates only the effectiveness with which selection of a genotype can be based on phenotypic performance but it
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