Morphological variation in selected rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Genetic improvement of rice for increased grain yield has changed plant height and canopy architecture of the rice (Oryza sativa L.). Under such circumstances, selection based on grain yield only can lead to the loss of other important characteristics of the low-yielding traditional rice varieties. In this context, morphological variation among traditional and improved Sri Lankan rice varieties using important vegetative and reproductive characteristics was studied. Principal component (PC) and cluster analyses were used to assess the patterns of morphological variation. The first five PCs explained over 90% of the total variation. PC1 and PC4 represented vegetative characteristics (i.e. plant height, leaf dry weight, leaf area, stem dry weight), and PC2, PC3 and PC5 represented reproductive characteristics (i.e. number of filled and total grains panicle -1 , number of panicles m -2 , number of tillers hill -1 and hundred grain weight). PC1 was found to be not important to explain the variability of grain yield among rice varieties in the presence of PC2-PC5. Based on both vegetative and reproductive characteristics, two clusters in each of the improved and traditional variety groups were identified and the existence of those clusters were proved by Wilks' lambda under multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Traditional varieties had a comparatively higher variation in their vegetative and reproductive characteristics. The implications of the results for rice improvement and germplasm conservation are also discussed.

Nutritional and antioxidant properties of selected traditional rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties of Sri Lanka

“…Some of these varieties were claimed to have medicinal properties according to the Sri Lankan ethno medicine and folklore (Dharmasena, 2010;Abeysekera & Premakumara, 2016). These health claims including some nutritional and antioxidant properties were scientifically proven in recent studies (Premakumara et al, 2013;Abeysekera et al, 2015a;Abeysekera et al, 2015b;Abeysekera & Premakumara, 2016) and thus such traditional rice varieties currently have a good market value (Wickramasinghe & Noda, 2008;Suriyagoda et al, 2011). However, there are numerous varieties yet to be studied.…”

Variability Assessment of Different Maintainer Lines for Hybrid Rice Development Based on Qualitative Traits

“…Even though the dendogram also proved the above statement in terms of similarity existing among the tested maintainer lines,a wide variability among them was identified. Suriyagoda et al, (2011) have reported a similar variability of rice varieties. As per the scattered diagram (Fig.…”

Morphological variation in selected Sri Lankan rice (Oryza sativa L.) accessions in relation to the vegetative parameters

“…Further, Tehrim et al (2012) also proved that agro-morphological traits can be used effectively to characterize the rice cultivars. Suriyagoda et al (2011) have reported a similar variability of rice varieties. Results of the present study have shown similarities to the findings of Suriyagoda et al (2011) in terms of dendrogram analysis, clustering groups and PCs analysis with some exceptions.…”

“…Suriyagoda et al (2011) have reported a similar variability of rice varieties. Results of the present study have shown similarities to the findings of Suriyagoda et al (2011) in terms of dendrogram analysis, clustering groups and PCs analysis with some exceptions. These exceptions were identified in terms of variations in cluster formation and grouping behaviors of their tested rice varieties.…”