Exploring the Rooting Behaviour of BRRI (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute) Rice Cultivars

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa. L.) is the main staple cereal crops for half of the world’s population which is predicted to exceed 9 billion by the 2050. Rice production needs to be doubled to meet the future demand of rice eating countries. To ensure the food security of growing population, sustainable rice production is needed. To achieve the expected yield, better understanding of the rice root systems will be required. A panel of rice cultivars, collected from Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) were assessed through two established screening methods. Deep and shallow rooted cultivars were identified through hydroponic screening and soil filled rhizotron method. In hydroponic screening method, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed 99.13% variation explained by the genotype (P < 0.001). At the same time, ANOVA revealed 73.37% variation explained by the genotype in soil filled glass rhizotron method (P < 0.001). When comparing the data of root traits obtained from hydroponic and rhizotron experiments, 4 cultivars were identified as deep rooted cultivars, which would be very promising cultivars for rice breeding programmes in drought prone regions.