Feasibility of Utilization of Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) Genetic Diversity in Rice Breeding for High Yield

Common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) is important to broaden the narrow genetic diversity of cultivated rice. To better understand the genetic variation, heritability and genetic correlations of agronomically important traits, 156 F2:3 families derived from the cross between rice (Oryza sativa) and wide rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) were evaluated under field conditions. The Analysis of Variance (AOV) indicated there was highly significant genetic variation between families for all the traits tested. Transgressive segregation was observed for most traits in the F2:3 families. Estimates of additive genetic Coefficient of Variation (CVA) ranged from 8.03 to 33.49. Except for empty grains per panicle, estimates of the narrow sense heritability (h) of the other 7 traits were moderate to high (h = 0.42-0.90). The results suggested that genetic variation for these traits was largely controlled by additive genes. Association of grain yield per plant with filled grains per plant, grain per panicle, seed setting rate and 1000-grain weight was positive and significant. Overall, there was high genetic variation which promised high rate of arising elite transgressive individuals and moderate heritability for most traits in the populations tested. It is feasible and efficient to use wild rice abundant genetic diversity to develop rice cultivars for high yield.