QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF RICE MUTANTS GENERATED THROUGH GAMMA RADIATION IN WHITE PONNI

S. RAMCHANDER¹*, R. USHAKUMARI², M. PILLAI ARUMUGAM^3
1Department of Rice (CPBG), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
²Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai (TNAU), Tamil Nadu, India
³Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulkam (TNAU), Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : rubulochander_009@yahoo.co.in

Received : 10-07-2015     Accepted : 30-07-2015     Published : 21-11-2015
Volume : 7     Issue : 10       Pages : 714 - 718
Int J Agr Sci 7.10 (2015):714-718

Keywords : Rice, White Ponni, Semi-dwarf, Amylose and Heritability
Academic Editor : K. Baghyalakshmi, Dr. S. Sheela Mary, Maria Filek
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : We sincerely extend our thanks to Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) for their financial grant to carry out the research.

The present investigation was carried out to study the quality attributes of rice grains in semi-dwarf and early mutants of White Ponni generated using gamma radiation. The results obtained from the study revealed that, identified mutants recorded high kernel length before and after cooking, L/B ratio before and after cooking and linear elongation ratio compared to wild type. Desirable semi-dwarf and early mutants exhibited intermediate amylose content and high gel consistency which showed rice grains remains softer when cooling. Most of the quality parameters exhibited higher variability, low to high heritability and low to high genetic advance as percent of mean where simple phenotypic selection is required to improvement of the these traits in rice. The trait kernel length after cooking exhibited positive correlation with L/B ratio before and after cooking and also showed significant positive correlation with linear elongation ratio in White Ponni mutants. The trait L/B ratio after cooking was positively correlated with linear elongation ratio and negatively correlated with breadth wise expansion ratio. Hence, selection based on these above parameters may reward in future quality-breeding programme in rice.