Mean Performance and Genetic Variability of some Grain Quality Characteristics of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The main objectives of the present study were to determine the mean performance and genetic variability of grain quality characteristics for some Egyptian rice cultivars during 2013 and 2014 growing seasons. Certified seeds of nineteen rice cultivars; namely, Sakha 101, Sakha 102, Sakha 103, Sakha 104, Sakha 105, Sakha 106, Giza 159, Giza 171, Giza 172, Giza175, Giza 176 and Giza 177, as short grain, while, Giza 178, Giza 179, Hybrid 1 and Hybrid 2 as medium grain,on the other hand, Giza 181, Giza 182 and Egyptian Yasmin as long grain were tested. The results showed significant differences among cultivars for most studied characters. The highest values for gelconsistency (GC), 1000-grain weight, water uptake, gelatinization temperature (GT), grain width, grain thickness, protein content, hulling and milling characters were noticed for short grain cultivars in both study seasons while, the highest values for broken %, elongation %, amylose content %, grain shape and grain length were recorded with long grain cultivars in both seasons. Among the studied characters, all traits had high heritability values and ranged from 81.25 to 99.85%. this indicates that the characteristics are not influenced by environmental factors and could be successfully inherited to the next generations. Different values of correlation coefficients between the studied traits were estimated. In general most studied characters showed significant correlation between each other in both study seasons.