Principal component analysis for agro-morphological and quality characters in germplasm of rice

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to determine the genetic diversity among ninety five rice germplasm lines along with six checks by using principal component analysis. Principal component analysis was utilized to examine the variation and to estimate the relative contribution of various traits for total variability. There are six axes which accounted for 71.37% cumulative variance of the total variability for twenty agro-morphological and quality traits. PC1 accounted 23.48% of the total variability contributed by the traits like amylose content, days to maturity, days to 50% flowering, total grains per panicle, filled grains per panicle, grain weight per panicle, elongation ratio and chaffy grains per panicle. PC2 accounted 12.45% of the total variation and the traits viz. total grains per panicle, filled grains per panicle, chaffy grains per panicle, kernel breadth and alkali spreading value contribute to the variation. Component 3 had the contribution from the characters like chaffy grains per panicle, grain yield per plant, kernel length, length/breadth ratio, total grains per panicle, alkali spreading value, water uptake and filled grains per panicle which accounted for 10.62% of the total variation. Grain quality characters like kernel length after cooking and elongation ratio had contributed 9.97% of the total variation in PC4. PC5 and 6 accounted 8.03% and 6.82% of the total variability respectively and contributed by the traits like spikelet fertility, filled grains per panicle, ear bearing tillers per plant, total grains per panicle and alkali spreading value. Thus, the results revealed vast genetic variability exists in the studied germplasm lines and can be used for various breeding programmes for improvement in yield and quality.