Genetic Variability, Character Association and Divergence Studies in Advance Generation Aromatic Rice

Gangetic old alluvial zone in India has conserved many locally adapted aromatic rice landraces. In order to determine the extent of genetic divergence of twelve morphological characters, the study was conducted to examine thirty-five aromatic rice genotypes in kharif season of 2024-25 at the agriculture farm of Palli-Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. A considerable degree of variation was noted for all the traits being investigated. Based on mean performance of 35 genotypes MED × Basmati and Baskota ×Gopalbhog crosses seem promising and its selection will be effective. Test weight and no. of spikelet/ panicle showed good GCV values in conjugation with heritability and genetic advance. From correlation coefficient analysis it was found that characters like plant height, flag leaf length, panicle length, no. of primary branches/ panicle, no. of secondary branches/ panicle, no. of spikelet/ panicle, spikelet fertility percentage and test weight showed positive and significant correlation with yield. Based on D2 analysis values, all the genotypes were grouped into eight clusters in which cluster V had the largest intra cluster distance and cluster V & VIII had the largest inter cluster distance. Among the several genotypes of aromatic rice, the study assisted in identifying the superior germplasm that could be used as parents for subsequent breeding with desired traits.