Evaluation of drought tolerance indices for selection of high yielding drought tolerant rice genotypes in Lamjung, Nepal

Abstract

The performance of eleven rice genotypes along with local check variety was studied at the field of IAAS Lamjung campus. The experiment was conducted under two field conditions i.e., drought stress and non-stress conditions. Grain yield was recorded in both experiments stress (Ys) and non-stress (Yns) at maturity. From grain yield data, some drought tolerance indices such as Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Drought Tolerance Efficiency (DTE%), Yield Stability Index (YSI), Mean Productivity index (MPI), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP) were calculated. A genotypic correlation was also calculated for grain yield and all indices. Grain yield under stress conditions (Yns) was positively and significantly correlated with MRP, MPI, GMP and STL. Similarly, a positive and significant association has also been observed between grain yield under stress condition and MPI, MRP, STL and GMP. So, they were the best predictor of potential yield Yns and Ys than SSI, DTE, YSI. Among the eleven rice genotypes Khumal-8, Khumal-7 and IR87760-15-2-3-4 were selected as the superior genotypes for the development of drought-tolerant cultivar in the future breeding programs.