Genetics of panicle-related traits of agronomic importance in rice through triple test cross analysis

Abstract

A triple test cross analysis was carried out to study the genetics of some panicle related traits of agronomic importance in "Basmati" rice. Partitioning of total epistasis into i type and j + l type of epistasis revealed that j + l types of interactions were significant for number of panicle per plant and yield per plant. Additive and dominance gene effects were important for panicle length, number of secondary branches per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle, number of sterile grains per panicle and panicle density. However, additive effects were the only source of variation for number of primaryv branches per plant and fertility percentage. The magnitude of additive variance was higher for all the traits and the degree of dominance was less than unity indicating partial dominance. The non-significant correlation between sums and differences did not show any evidence of directional dominance. Epistatic interactions j + l type can be manipulated to improve number of panicles per plant and yield per plant through recurrent selection. The predominance of additive gene effect suggests the occurrence of selection in late segregating populations however, early selection is proposed for number of primary branches per panicle and fertility percentage to improve rice yield.