A research work was undertaken at Agricultural College and Research Institute during late rabi, 2016 (Nov-Feb), and rabi, 2017 (Nov-Feb) to determine the response of selection for grain yield and yield related components and to estimate the amount of genetic potential transferred from one generation to next generation using different segregating generations of rice. In the present study, segregating generations viz., F2, F3 and generations of four crosses viz., ADT 45 x NLR 34449, CO 51 x NLR 34449, ADT 45 x WGL 365 and CO51 x WGL 365 were evaluated for yield and its related traits using descriptive statistics and parent progeny regression analysis. The mean, median and mode were dissimilar for all the traits in almost all the generations of all the crosses indicated that the distribution was asymmetrical. The coefficient of variation was high in F2 whereas in forwarding generations of F3 it was low, indicating that the settle down of homozygosity. The mean was high compared to the median and mode for grain yield indicating that the distribution was positively skewed. Hence, selection for grain yield may be practiced among the progenies. The kurtosis value was less than three in almost both crosses, indicated that the progenies were not bunched around the mode in all generations. In respect of days to 50 per cent flowering (DFF) and plant height, F2 generation showed high mean performance than in F3 generation. This indicates that there was a reduction in mean value for days to 50 per cent flowering and plant height over advancement of generations. The results revealed that significant positive inter-generation correlation and regression was observed for character like plant height in all four crosses ADT 45 x NLR 34449, CO 51 x NLR 34449, ADT 45 x WGL 365 and CO51 x WGL 365 and grain yield per plant was found significant in crosses CO 51 x NLR 34449 and CO51 x WGL 365. The results indicated that F2 is good indicator of F3 performance for all the traits. It indicates the chances of selecting high yielding genotypes at early generations. In all the crosses, the identified superior genotypes were fixed as homozygous lines in F4 generation. These lines will be evaluated in yield trials viz., Initial Yield Trial (IYT), Preliminary Yield Trial (PYT) and Advance Yield Trial (AYT) along with the check varieties. Hence, selection of high yielding genotypes at early generation based on these characters is valuable for identification of promising cultures.

Download this article as