Descriptive Statistics and Heritability for Agronomic Traits and Grain Micronutrient Content in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

In the present investigation, 10 parents and their 45 crosses (half diallel) along with 2 standard checks (Rajendra Nilam and Rajendra Mahsuri-1) were evaluated during Kharif, 2018 in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications at Rice Farm Section, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (RPCAU), Pusa, Bihar. The objective of this study was to identify promising rice genotypes having desirable combination of morphological traits along with high grain iron and zinc content and high grain yield potential. The results of variability parameters indicated that ample amount of genetic variability was present for all the studied traits. Most of the traits showed high heritability coupled with high genetic advance indicating fruitfulness of selection for improvement of these traits. One genotype (P2×P7) with high grain iron (16.10 ppm) and grain zinc (26.40 ppm) content along with high yield (43.12 g/plant) was identified. Genotypes with high grain iron coupled with high grain yield (P7×P9, P8×P9, P5×P7 and P5×P9) and high grain zinc content coupled with high grain yield (P4×P7, P9×P10, P8×P9 and P5×P7) were also identified. These promising genotypes identified can be used further in breeding programmes to obtain superior segregants with high grain micronutrient content and high grain yield.