Genetic Variability For Indices of Major Cooking and Nutritive Quality Characters in Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Collections From Northeast Indian Hills

The extent of natural variation for nine cooking-nutritive quality attributes, viz., water absorption, volume expansion, gel consistency, gelatinization temperature, amylose and protein content, and kernel density, was estimated by screening 325 cultivars which largely included land races from the Northeast Indian hills. The results revealed wide variability for various characters. Although the material used in the present investigation was from the Northeast Indian hills, which form an extremely small region in the distribution map of Asian cultivated rice, it represents as wide variability as the world collection. Its geographical significance as the region close to the centre of origin of rice is discussed. Varieties showing deviation from the established character pair associations, especially water absorption-volume expansion, in relation to texture of cooked rice and gel consistency-amylose content-protein content have been found. Several cultivars of breeders' interest have been identified for use as donors of desirable cooking quality characters.