Clustering Pattern of some Indigenous Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Accessions from Chhattisgarh

The current scenario in the food and agriculture sector marks the sudden increase in concerns towards conservation of genetic biodiversity in rice production. Chhattisgarh state in India is home to a large number of indigenous rice varieties, which may serve a valuable genetic resource for future crop improvement to meet the ever increasing demand for food production. The preliminary characterization of five accessions of clustered spikelet rice germplasm was carried out at IGKV, Raipur during kharif 2012 to 2013. The data on qualitative and quantitative descriptors were recorded using standard evaluation system for rice (IRRI, 2002) descriptor for 18 traits. The accessions studied exhibited good variability in both qualitative and quantitative traits. Ama Ruthi showed maximum variation for all the traits viz., basal leaf sheath colour, collar colour, culm interned colour, apiculus colour and high fertility percentage observed in accession Chhind Guchhi (97.24%) followed by Ama Jhopa (97.11%), Nariyal Phool (96.63%), Koudi Dhul (95.51%) and Ama Ruthi (92.18%). So, this study will be useful for breeder and researcher to identify valuable germplasm and their conservation as well as utilization in rice improvement programme.