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The rice production in Ethiopia is less than the world’s average due to the lack of varieties with high yield potential. Evaluation of genetic variability is important in the rice breeding program for the production of high yielding varieties. A study was conducted at Pawe Agricultural Research Center in July 2020/21 using 70 genotypes of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) to evaluate the genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance among morphological, yield-related and quality parameters. Alpha lattice experimental design with two replications and seven blocks was used. There was a highly significant difference (P < .001) and high diversity among the genotypes for both quantitative and qualitative parameters. The range of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variance was 6.1% to 44.51% and 6.5% to 45.81%, respectively. Broad sense heritability was high for all traits. Genetic advance as percent of the mean ranged from 11.02% to 89.07%. For stand count, plant height, productive tillers, filled grain/panicle, thousand grain weight, grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index, high heritability with high genetic advance as percent of the mean were noted. Hence, these traits could be used as selection criteria for indirect selections of genotypes for yield improvement. Based on yield performance and other relevant features, the best genotypes were determined to be G5, G7, G9, G12, G21, and G65. The findings of this study indicated the existence of sufficient variability among the genotypes; hence, there is a high possibility of obtaining promising genotypes for the next breeding programs.
Demeke et al. (Fri,) studied this question.