Received: 10^th July, 2023; Accepted: 14^th August 2023

Abstract

Rice is the major staple food crop of India and there is an anticipated high demand due to increasing population. Information on yield contributing traits and the level of heritable variation in these traits is essential for establishing the genotype’s potential for future breeding programmes. The study was conducted to evaluate the variability in yield contributing traits and their correlation in a set of released rice varieties from ICAR – Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad. The objective of the study was to estimate the genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance of yield and related traits using thirty-two rice cultivars. For all evaluated traits, the phenotypic coefficient of variation was found to be significantly higher than the genotypic coefficient of variance, implying that the expression of these traits is influenced by the environment. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for panicle weight whereas low heritability coupled with low genetic advance over per cent mean was recorded for productive tiller number. The traits viz., tiller number, productive tiller number, flag leaf width, panicle weight, number of grains per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle and test weight exhibited a positive association, whereas the number of unfilled grains per panicle and plant height exhibited negative association with grain yield.