Grain quality of dry-seeded rice in response to sowing dates and genotypes

The information on quality aspects of rice genotypes specifically developed for direct seeding in response to sowing time is limited. The present study was aimed to assess the effect of sowing time (1, 10 and 20 June) on quality of rice genotypes (RIL-367 and RIL-1649, PR-115 and PR-121) sown under direct-seeding conditions. The results revealed that newly developed genotypes (RIL-367 and RIL-1649) for dry-seeded rice (DSR) had higher head rice recovery (HRR\ua0%) as compared to PR-115 (the popular variety for DSR) and, HRR\ua0% of RIL-1649 improved (~ 63–64%) under late sowing (20 June). In each sowing date, RIL-367 and RIL-1649 had similar but lower chalkiness (< 8%) than PR-115 and PR-121. RIL-1649 had a higher kernel elongation ratio and lower alkali spreading score among all genotypes at each sowing date. The present study revealed that high chalkiness in the early sown crop resulted in lower HRR% as the relationship of HRR% with chalkiness in the early sown crop was found negative (−.0.72). It was also seen that high amylose contents of RIL-367 and RIL-1649 helped in reducing chalkiness, as the negative correlation (− 0.74) was found between amylose content and chalkiness. This study suggests that chalkiness in DSR may be reduced by manipulating sowing time in DSR. This study also suggests that genotypes RIL-367 and RIL-1649 having higher HRR% with low chalkiness and intermediate amylose could be considered as parents in the breeding program for developing new rice varieties with improved appearance quality, especially for DSR in South Asia