Influence of differential root and shoot growth rate on seedling vigour index in rice

Abstract

Early seedling vigour is an important trait in direct seeded rice which determines the growth and yield. It is a complex trait and is found to be associated with germination and seedling growth. The rice genotypes, BPT 5204 and PB 1850-27 were screened for early seedling vigour traits and the data was recorded on germination percentage, root length, shoot length, seedling length, seedling fresh weight and seedling dry weight. The seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II were calculated for both the genotypes. It was observed that seedling vigour index I and II was found higher in PB 1850-27 as compared to BPT 5204. The principal component analysis was done to study differential root and shoot growth rate in F1 plants with parents. It was observed that growth rate in F1 seedlings was found higher than both the parents. The root growth in F1 plants resemble BPT 5204 during initial days of germination, while shoot growth pattern exhibited similarity only with PB 1850-27. The F2 population exhibited segregation for mean root and shoot length.