1School of Biotechnology, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Gajapati-761 211, Odisha, India
*Corresponding Author: Ranjan Kumar Sahoo, School of Biotechnology, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Gajapati-761 211, Odisha, India, Email: ranjan.sahoo@cutm.ac.in
Online Published on 22 January, 2026.
Climate change is predicted to aggravate abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought and temperature, harshly affecting crop plants, especially rice plants and reducing their productivity. Soil quality is affected by stress conditions, which makes it a big challenge to secure food resources in rice-growing regions. Abiotic stress-tolerant rice is necessary to grow in extreme environmental conditions for food safety.
The present investigation was carried out by randomly selecting ten local rice varieties and screening them naturally for salt and drought tolerance. In this study, the salinity-sensitive rice variety (IR64) was taken as a control. We analysed biochemical parameters such as H2O2, chlorophyll, proline content, relative water content (RWC), lipid peroxidation (MDA) content, CAT (catalase), GPX (guaiacol peroxidase), GR (glutathione reductase), leaf disc assay, electrolytic leakage and hormone assay. The photosynthetic parameters were also determined to identify the salinity and drought-tolerant rice lines.
Our results showed that stress-tolerant rice varieties, such as T2 (Jagannath) and T5 (Swarnamayee), T3 (Parijata) and T9 (Prativa) have higher chlorophyll, endogenous ion and soluble sugar contents than other varieties. The present study can help to develop stress-tolerant rice plants worldwide and increase food availability in salinity and drought environments.
Abiotic stress, Antioxidant, Drought, Local landraces, Rice, Salinity, Yield
