Characterization of Five Rice Varieties Using Morphological Traits and Seed Storage Protein Profiling

Rice is one of the most important crops and a major source of nutrition for about 2.5 billion people around the globe that belongs to Poaceae family. Repeated use of selected rice breeding lines in various breeding programs not only limits the genetic basis but also develop susceptibility to the various abiotic and biotic stresses. In these circumstances, genetic variability of the existing rice germplasm should be maintained for several economical traits by conserving land race genotypes. The present study was taken to understand the genetic variability and relatedness among five cultivars of Oryza sativa viz. Jaya and Uma (improved) and Odachen, Chennellu and Vetteri Black (traditional) cultivated in Kerala using seed protein profiling and morphological characteristics. SDS PAGE of grain protein of five edible rice varieties showed about 50% polymorphism. The UPGMA dendrogram of the protein profile generated revealed two main clusters (traditional and improved) at 61% homology. Thus the variation showed by the improved cultivars may be due to the effect of the selection procedures which made them improved and evolved rice variety. Heat map obtained during the analysis showed a clear picture about the morphological values through a color gradient, where the morphological traits apart from number of grains per panicle were mostly at the lower side for the improved varieties than the traditional varieties.Scatter plot obtained through Principle Cordinate Analysis showed morphological cohesiveness among the improved varieties while all the traditional varieties clustered far apart which shows its genetic distinctness.