Variability, heritability, and performance of 28 West Sumatran upland rice cultivars, Indonesia

Abstract

The abundance of genetic diversity, especially local upland rice cultivars, makes an excellent opportunity to obtain local cultivars with the desirable character. The study aimed to assess the genetic variability and heritability of agronomic traits among local upland rice cultivars from West Sumatra. In this study, 28 local upland cultivars from West Sumatra were subjected to the analysis of variance. The research was conducted from November 2020 to April 2021 at the Research Station of the Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University, Padang. The evaluation was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicates. Results showed variation in each agronomic trait, ranging from intermediate to tall in plant height, short to moderate in panicle length, low to moderate in the number of tillers, days to flowering and days to maturity, and light to moderate in grain yield. Plant height, number of tillers, days to flowering, and days to maturity were traits with high to moderately high GCV values and high heritability values. The number of tillers and days to maturity could be chosen as selection criteria for assembling superior varieties. Both traits performed high heritability estimates and significant genotypic correlation with grain yield.