1Rice Research and Regional Station, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Khudwani, Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir-192102, India. g_singh72@rediffmail.com
2Division of Plant Pathology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir-190121, India
In this study, 68 IRCTN genotypes of rice were grown under temperate conditions for their evaluation to cold tolerance and leaf blast disease. Eighteen genotypes were found cold tolerant based on spike fertility (>90%) and seedling colour score (<3). However, evaluation against leaf blast resistance revealed that none of the genotypes was immune or highly resistant, while 21 genotypes were resistant and 18 were moderately resistant that exhibit blast incidence less than 10% and 11–20%, respectively. Morphological observations showed that low temperature resulted in stunting of plant, delayed growth and poor panicle exsertion which led to poor phenotypic acceptability of genotypes in general. Four genotypes viz. IR1367, L 10573, MILLIN and OLBYE 2 were found to be promising possessing cold tolerance (>90% spikelet fertility) coupled with leaf blast resistance (PDI<10%) and other desirable traits showing their usefulness in future rice breeding.
