Assessment of heritability and genetic advance for yield contributing characters in hill rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes of Manipur

A study was conducted on 46 genotypes of hill rice during 2017 with an objective of assessing heritability and genetic advance for yield contributing characters. The experiment was laid out in Augmented Design with two checks at the Research Farm of Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur, India. Analysis of variance among 46 genotypes showed significant difference for all 13 quantitative characters studied. The highest PCV and GCV were recorded for the characters, number of unfilled spikelets per panicle and grain yield per plant. The GCV ranged from 24.20%(number of unfilled spikelets per panicle) to 3.29%(days to 50% flowering). The small differences between PCV and GCV for the traits, plant height, test-weight, days to 50% flowering, spikelet fertility and leaf length represented some degree of environmental influence on the phenotypic expression of these characters. High estimates of heritability were observed for leaf length, spikelet fertility, test-weight, plant height, days to 50% flowering, total number of tillers per plant, panicle length, number of unfilled spikelets per panicle. Genetic advance as percent of mean resulted high for number of unfilled spikelets per panicle, effective tillers per plant, total number of tillers per plant, and grain yield per plant. High heritability with high genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for total number of tillers per plant (h2= 76.89, GAM= 25.39), and number of unfilled spikelets per panicle (h2= 60.74, GAM= 38.91). Therefore, it helps in indicating possibilities of effective selection for the improvement of these characters