Evaluation of Qualitative Traits of Grain in Rice Promising Lines (Oryza Sativa L.)

The development and production of genotypes with high quality is one of the important purposes in the plant breeding programs. In order to evaluate the qualitative traits, 77 lines of rice (F12 generation) in comparison to five control cultivars (including Tarom­Mahalli, Sang-e-Tarom, Nok­Seyah, Fajr and Deilamani) were studied in the Biotechnology Laboratory of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran in 2015. The results of analysis of variance showed significant differences between the studied lines in terms of qualitative traits. The analysis of correlation between qualitative traits showed significant and positive correlations between the amount of brown and white rices and the conversion efficiency. Also, the amount of amylose was negatively correlated with gel consistency (-0.792). Factor analysis resulted in identification of four main factors, which justified 76.75% of the total variation. The distribution of the studied lines based on the first two factors, which justified 51.29% of the variation, was able to correctly align the same lines in the right region of the biplot. The results of this study distinguished lines 47, 48, 37, 27, 7, 58 and 59 (owing to medium amylose content, medium gelatinization temperature and medium gel consistency) as of desired quality cooking lines that due to high milling rate (67%) and long grains (greater than 7.5 mm) belong to the long grain rice group and can be introduced as good quality cultivars.