Assessment and evaluation of drought tolerance of RILs developed from cross of Rasi and ISM in terms of agro-morphological characterization

Rice is the second largest cereal crop in the world and its production greatly affected by drought stress depending on the severity and growth stage of the crop. The development of drought tolerant varieties is the most needed approach to tackle the rapidly changing climate. In the present study, RIL population (n= 209) for drought tolerance derived from the cross Rasi and Improved Samba Mahsuri (Rasi x ISM), evaluated for various agronomic parameters associated with drought tolerance ICAR- NRRI- CRURRS, Hazaribagh and ICAR -IIRR, Hyderabad. The derived population showed a normal distribution suggesting polygenic nature of the traits related to drought tolerance. The study showed highly significant positive correlation of yield trait with PYL, GW, HI, GYL, PANNO, PH, PL, GNP and negatively correlated with DFF, CGNP and SP.