Studies on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance of EMS induced mutant population in paddy (Oryza sativa) cv. BPT 5204

Genetic variability in plant population is crucial for crop improvement. Induced mutation is one of the potential tools for generating more variability which has been successfully exploited for improving several traits in many crop plants including rice. This research was conducted during kharif 2021 at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha. This study was aimed at determining the selection criteria for M₂ generation of rice variety BPT 5204 through genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance analysis. Analysis of variance indicated that the mean sum of squares due to genotypes was significant for all the characters (P>0.05 and P>0.01) which revealed that there was considerable genetic variability amongst the material under study. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was significantly higher in magnitude than as usual of genotypic coefficient of variation for all the traits under each analysis. High heritability (above 60%) was observed for plant height (75.93%), number of tillers/hill (64.20%), productive tillers/hill (81.54%), sterile grains/plant (92.28%), panicle length (69.49%), flag leaf length (63.29%), flag leaf width (89.77%) and grain yield/hill (68.68%). Genetic advance as per cent of mean was high for traits number of tillers per hill, productive tillers/hill, sterile grains/plant, panicle length, flag leaf length and flag leaf width.