Exploring the Relationship between Yield and Yield Attributing Traits in Advanced Breeding Lines of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Aim: Present study endeavors to explore the genetic variability for various agro-morphological and quality traits as well as to delineate the association between grain yield and its yield attributing components Study Design: Randomized Complete Block Design Place and Duration of Study: Division of Plant Breeding and Genetics, She-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu during kharif 2020. Methodology: A experiment was carried out to determine the association between grain yield and yield attributing components among advanced breeding lines of rice to establish a well grounded selection criteria for developing rice varieties with improved grain yield. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was found to be relatively greater than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for most of traits indicating role of environment in the phenotypic expression of traits. Characters viz., plant height, total number of tillers per plant, number of effective tillers per plant, panicle length and grain yield per plant exhibited high heritability coupled with high genetic advance indicating their efficient inheritance from preceding generations. Results: Association studies indicated that characters viz., Plant height, total number of tillers per plant, number of effective tillers per plant, panicle length, 1000 grain weight and grain yield per plant had a significant positive relationship with grain yield per plot indicating their role in breeding rice varieties for higher grain yield. Conclusion: Cause and effect relationship revealed that traits viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, total number of tillers per plant, days to maturity, panicle length and grain yield per plant can be exploited for indirect selection for improving grain yield.