SCREENING OF AROMATIC RICE CULTIVARS BASED ON PHYSIO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES IN RELATION TO DROUGHT STRESS

Abstract

The investigations comprised four experiments which were carried out during 2017 to 2020 to screen the morpho-physiological behavior and assessment of drought tolerance in Bangladeshi local aromatic rice cultivars at Agronomy Research Field-1, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh. There were 65 local aromatic rice cultivars were tested in the 1st experiment for screening out the best performance on the basis of yield performance. Among them 11 aromatic rice cultivars were selected for experiment number 2. The 2nd experiment comprised of two factors Factor A: 11 rice cultivars and Factor B: 2 drought stress level viz., T0= no drought stress (Control) and T1= 40-45% field capacity. Drought stress significantly reduced the growth yield and yield contributing features of tested aromatic cultivars. But the extent of reduction is varied with genotypic difference. The results depicted that, at 40-45% field capacity Chinigura (Red) produced maximum grain yield (56.47 g hill-1) followed by Kalijira (54.63 g hill-1) and Kataribhog (53.89 g hill-1). Kataribhog philipine attained maximum relative water content but Chinigura (Red), Kataribhog and Kalijira also significantly performed better. Kalijira represent the most aroma content (8.56). The single factor 3rd experiment consisted with seven aromatic rice cultivars viz., V1= Chinigura (Red), V2= Kataribhog, V3= Kalijira, V4= Kataribhog (Jata), V5= Radhunipagal, V6= Bolder and V7= Kataribhog philipine. The findings revealed that Chinigura (Red), Kataribhog and Kalijira performed better where Radhunipagal and Kataribhog (Jata) showed the intermediate results and finally Kataribhog philipine and Bolder performed poor in the context of phenological and yield traits analysis with some exceptions. Chinigura (Red) produced the more grain hill-1 (65.66 g) and Kataribhog philipine produced the less (39.55 g). The 4th experiment comprised of two factors; Factor A: 7 rice cultivars viz., V1= Chinigura (Red), V2= Kataribhog, V3= Kalijira, V4= Kataribhog (Jata), V5= Radhunipagal, V6= Bolder and V7= Kataribhog philipine and Factor B: 2 irrigation interval viz., T0= Continuous flooding (Control) and T1= irrigation at 5 days interval, T2= irrigation at 10 days interval, T3= irrigation at 15 days interval, T4= irrigation at 20 days interval and T5= irrigation at 25 days interval. Irrigation interval had significant effect on the plant characteristics of aromatic rice. Continuous flooding and irrigation at 5 days interval performed best for most of the observed characters and irrigation at 25 days interval plant did not survive of all tested cultivars. Interaction of Chinigura (Red) and irrigation at 5 days interval produced the maximum grain yield hill-1 (65.15 g) followed by interaction of Chinigura (Red) and continuous flooding (64.53 g). The interactions of Kataribhog and Kalijira with irrigation at 5 days interval, respectively also statistically significant for grain yield. Considering the abiotic stress (especially drought) condition and limited resources of irrigation water, Chinigura (Red) along with 5 days intermittent irrigation could be best water saving production package under moisture stress prone area of Bangladesh.