Breeding rice varieties for tolerance to moisture stress along with high yield potential is a challenging task. Considering the wide diversity of rice growing environment including various degrees of moisture stress conditions, the rice germplasm of North Bank Plain Zone (NBPZ) of Assam appears to be important for their studies on genetic architecture with respect to traits associated with grain yield and moisture stress tolerance. Thus, the present study was conducted to elucidate the genetic variability and character association for traits related to tolerance towards moisture stress and grain yield in a set of 54 rice varieties of the region. The genotypes were evaluated by growing them in PVC pipes. The study revealed highest genotypic coefficient of variation for root volume, followed by root dry weight, root length density and grain yield. Considerably high amount of variation was also exhibited by filled grains per panicle, shoot dry weight, root length and root-shoot r

Genetic variability, Correlation, Rice, North Bank Plain Zone of Assam, Grain Yield and Moisture stress tolerance

The present study indicated that direct selection for the traits viz., filled grains per panicle, root volume, root dry weight, shoot dry weight, root length density and grain yield per plant would be effective. From the association studies it was obvious that root traits which play a vital role in conferring drought tolerance exhibit little direct correlation with yield and other yield components. Therefore, all the root traits associated with drought adaptation needs to be selected separately. For simultaneous improvement genotypes for drought tolerance and higher yield, two separate yet parallel selection schemes need to be formulated, one for root traits and the other for yield related traits. This should be followed by further genetic divergence and combining ability studies and hybridization between genotypes to obtain segregants with combination of desirable root traits and yield attributes. Thus, it appears that judicious manipulation of the existing variabilit

Ahmed, A.S.N., Sarma, M.K., Bhuyan, J., Deka, S.D., Choudhury, H. Zaman, S. and Sharma, A.A. (2021). Genetic Variability and Character Associations in Rice Cultivars of North Bank Plain Zone of Assam for Traits Associated with Adaptation under Moisture