Abstract

Twenty-five rice varieties were evaluated for their variability with regard to grain yield per plant, yield components and quality characters. Estimates of heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean were also obtained for the above traits. in addition, studies on character associations and path coefficients were also undertaken. The results revealed high variability, heritabiiity and genetic advance as per cent of mean for productive tillers per plant, indicating the effectiveness of simple selection for improvement of the trait. Further, productive tillers per plant and number of filled grains per panicle exhibited high positive direct effects, in addition to strong positive associations with grain yield per plant, indicating the importance of these traits as selection criteria in rice yield improvement programmes. Further, grain yield per plant had recorded positive and significant association with head rice recovery and amylose content, indicating a scope for simultaneous improvement for grain yield and these quality traits. The study also revealed negative association of productive tillers per plant with number of filled grains per panicle; and number of filled grains per panicle with 1000-grain weight indicating the need for balanced selection in crop yield improvement programmes.