Studies on Performance of Some Elite Traditional Varieties of Rice of West Bengal with Popular HYVs during Wet Season

Abstract

Ten elite germplasm of traditional rice varieties of West Bengal along with two HYVs (IET 5656 and MTU 7029), used as checks were grown at Rice Research Station (RRS), Chinsurah, Hooghly, West Bengal as replicated yield trial during Kharif 2011. These traditional varieties have been chosen on the basis of their high yield potential and popularity among the farmers. Observations were taken on agromorphic traits (yield, days to 50% flowering, no. of panicles m-², no. of filled grains panicle-¹, test weight, sterility%, etc.), physical grain quality parameters (grain length, grain breadth, grain L/B ratio, kernel length, kernel breadth, kernel L/B ratio etc), milling quality traits (hulling%, milling% and head rice recovery%), and some cooking and eating quality parameters (volume expansion, elongation ratio, alkali spreading value, gel consistency and amylose content). Genetic analysis was conducted for all the parameters biometrically. Genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic co-efficient of variation (PCV), were found to be maximum for cooking quality trait and alkali spreading value, followed by number of filled grains panicle-¹, panicle weight, amylose content, test weight and kernel breadth, respectively. Heritability ranged from 20.33% (Elongation ratio) to 96.93% (Alkali spreading) and high heritability was found in filled grains panicle-¹, test weight, alkali spreading value, amylase content, grain breadth, grain L/B, kernel breadth, kernel L/B, kernel length, panicle weight, yield, plant height and gel consistency. Alkali spreading value, no of filled grains panicle-¹, test weight, amylose content, kernel breadth, kernel L/B, panicle weight, plant height, gel consistency and yield showed high heritability with high GCV which indicates the effectiveness of selection based on these traits. Filled grain panicle-¹, test weight, plant height, yield, gel consistency and amylose content showed high heritability coupled with high GCV and high GA indicating that these characters are mostly governed by additive gene action and hence, can be considered as the basis of selection for varietal improvement. Out of 10 traditional rice varieties, five viz. Jamainadu, Talmari, Kerala Sundari, Jugal and Binni gave at par yield with high yielding checks IET 5656 and MTU 7029. Dudheswar, Binni, Jamainadu and Sarunagra were found to have better cooking and eating quality than both the high yielding checks while Kerala Sundari, Jugal and Dudheswar had better milling quality over the checks.