Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for Yield and Associated Traits in F2 Rice Population

This study was conducted at Rice Research and Training Center (RRTC), Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt in 2010, 2011 and 2012 growing seasons to estimates of genetic variances, genotypic coefficients of variability, heritability (in broad sense) and the expected genetic advance upon selection of all studied characters of F2 hybrid populations. The four characteristics viz. number of days to heading, plant height; number of tillers plant-1 and flag leaf area had a wide range of variability. The mean square variances were highly significant for all studied traits among this population. Heritability percentage (H2b %) was detected higher for all traits, indicated that the dominance and additive genetic variance play an important role in the inheritance of these traits. The rice genotypes showed a wide range of variation for grain yield plant-1, number of panicles plant-1, 1000-grain weight, number of filled grains panicle-1 and panicle weight. The mean squares for all traits were highly significant. Thus, selection for these traits among these genotypes would be effective in all cases.