Genetic Variability, Heritability, Correlation Coefficient and Path Analysis of Morphophysiological and Yield Related Traits of Rice under Drought Stress

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to detect the variability, heritability and genetic advance for morphophysiologcal and yield related traits in rice under drought stress. For this study 81 genotypes were phenotyped for drought tolerance under field condition in 9×9 lattice square design with two replicates at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Pattambi during the month of Sept to Dec 2017. Drought stress was induced from panicle initiation stage for a period of 25 consecutive days by withdrawing irrigation. The result obtained from the current study showed that adequate variability was present among the genotypes for morphophysiological and yield parameters. For all ten traits tested, the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). High GCV and PCV were observed for yield plant-1(22.71, 23.05). Broad sense heritability varied from 57.23 for tiller number to 96.33 for grain yield. Path analysis revealed that the relative water content had maximum positive direct effect on yield. The present study revealed that for rice yield under drought stress a genotype should possess high relative water content, chlorophyll stability index and high spikelet fertility percentage. Keywords: