Principal Component Analysis of Morphological Traits Related to Brown Planthopper (BPH) (Nilaparvata lugens Stål.) Resistance in 442 Accessions of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Four hundred and forty two rice accessions were screened for Brown plant hopper (BPH) in rice. This accession includes land races, traditional varieties, established lines and released varieties of India. Morphological parameters namely plant height, culm thickness and days to fifty per cent flowering were recorded along with a screening scores at seedling stage by the Modified Seed-box Screening Test (MSST) in glass house. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that the traits namely plant height and days to fifty per cent flowering contributed in higher magnitude among other variables. From the Biplot of Principal Components (PCs), the accessions namely T1904, PMK 1, Veeradangan, CO22, CO9, CO39, Sivappuchitraikar, CO40, CO32 and T235 were highly diverse for the traits when compared to all other accessions, these accessions can be employed for study the inheritance of resistance and to identify the Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL's) for future rice genotype improvement for BPH resistance.