Received: 2nd October 2022; Accepted: 5th December 2022 

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crops of the world and the yield of rice is stagnated for several decades because of a narrow genetic base. African cultivated species, Oryza glaberrima, is a potent source for broadening the genetic base of O. sativa cultivars. In this investigation, a total of 232 F2 population derived from a cross between O. glaberrima derived introgression line and O. sativa cv. Samba Mahsuri was characterised by yield and yield-attributing traits. A great range of variability was noticed for the number of tillers, number of panicles, and yield per plant. The PCV values were on par with GCV for all yield and yield-attributing variables, indicating a low environmental influence. High heritability coupled with moderate to high GAM was recorded in all traits, indicating the presence of additive gene effect and direct selection of these characters might be effective. Panicle length (0.18**), the number of tillers (0.29**), and panicles (0.31**) found a significant positive correlation with yield per plant. The findings of the current study have demonstrated the usefulness of O. glaberrima germplasm and its potential for use in the genetic development of indica rice varieties, specifically for the yield-enhancing trait.