Research Article Genetic Variability and Selection Criteria in Rice Mutant Lines as Revealed by Quantitative Traits

Copyright © 2014 Yusuff Oladosu et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Genetic based knowledge of different vegetative and yield traits play a major role in varietal improvement of rice. Genetic variation gives room for recombinants which are essential for the development of a new variety in any crop. Based on this background, this work was carried out to evaluate genetic diversity of derived mutant lines and establish relationships between their yield and yield components using multivariate analysis. To achieve this objective, two field trials were carried out on 45 mutant rice genotypes to evaluate their growth and yield traits. Data were taken on vegetative traits and yield and its components, while genotypic and phenotypic coefficients, variance components, expected genetic advance, and heritability were calculated. All the genotypes showed variations for vegetative traits and yield and its components. Also, there was positive relationship between the quantitative trait