ROOT TRAITS FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE: A STUDY OF UPLAND RICE GENOTYPES FROM NAGALAND AND THEIR POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING RICE (ORYZA SATIVA) PRODUCTIVITY

In a first-of-its-type study in the Nagaland region, 28 upland local landraces of rice were evaluated for drought resistance using root characteristics.The results showed that Longkhum Tsuk (SARS-2) exhibited the highest root length and volume, making it an ideal genotype for drought-prone areas.High genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were observed for the root shoot ratio, root dry weight, root length, number of tillers per plant, effective spikelet per panicle, and grain yield per plant, with broad-sense heritability and genetic advance being high for root fresh weight, root dry weight, and root volume.Correlation and path analyses revealed positive associations between grain yield and root fresh weight, root dry weight, number of tillers per plant, effective spikelet per panicle, and 1000-grain weight, with root fresh weight, root dry weight, root length, and 1000-grain weight exhibiting positive direct effects on grain yield.These findings provide valuable insights for breeders in selecting traits for developing drought-tolerant rice varieties, highlighting the potential of root characteristics as key selection criteria for improving rice productivity in water-limited environments.