Genetic diversity study in genotypes of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The present study on “Genetic Diversity Study in Genotypes of Aromatic Rice” was carried out at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. During the Kharif season of 2024. Twelve genotypes were grown in RBD with three replications and were analysed for morpho-physiological characters. A comprehensive evaluation of 12 aromatic rice genotypes revealed significant genetic variability across all traits studied, as confirmed by ANOVA. The narrow differences between phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation (PCV and GCV) suggest minimal environmental influence, particularly for traits such as days to flowering (DFF) and days to maturity (DTM), traits like yield per plant (YPP) showed greater environmental impact High broad-sense heritability coupled with substantial genetic advance as a percent of mean was recorded for several traits, including spikelet fertility% (SPF%), yield per plot(YPP), number of effective tillers(NET), plant height (PH), and kernel breadth (KB), indicating the potential for effective selection. Traits such as SPF%, yield (YP), and KB demonstrated high PCV, GCV, heritability, and genetic advance, underscoring their significance in breeding for yield improvement. Correlation analysis highlighted positive, significant associations of PH, flag leaf width (FLW), number of panicles per plant (NPPP), and several other traits with grain yield. Path coefficients analysis revealed that traits like DTM, flag leaf length (FLL), FLW, SPF%, kernel length (KL), and KB exerted positive and direct effects on grain yield, while traits such as DFF, PH, and PL had negative impacts.