Evaluation of Qualitative and Quantitative Traits and Correlation Coefficient Analysis of Six Upland Rice Varieties

Field experiments were conducted in 2014 and 2015 seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University Oye, (Ikole campus) Ekiti State, Nigeria, to determine genetic variability for phenotypic traits (qualitative and quantitative) among six upland rice varieties through estimating heritability of yield and yield components, genetic advance, correlation coefficients of grain yield and yield contributing traits. The experiments were laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Slight differences were observed between the Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV) and Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV). Phenotypic variances for the traits under study were higher than genotypic variances in the seasons suggesting that the traits were more responsive to environmental influence. Heritability estimate varied from 9.15% for panicle length to 99% grain yield. In the two years, correlation coefficients showed that number of grains per panicle (r = 0.95, 0.59), panicle weight (r = 0.57, 0.97) had positive and significant correlation with grain yield, while in 2014, grain yield was positive and significantly correlated with number of panicles/plant (r = 0.99) and grain yield was also positive and significantly correlated with 1000-grain weight (r = 0.77) in 2014 respectively. The present study revealed that varieties (NERICA 1, 4 and 8) with the highest number of grains per panicle, highest grain weight, more number of panicles per plant and large panicle size, increase rice yield in upland ecology. The study further revealed that the varieties selected are adaptable and can thrive well in the study area.

Keywords: Genetic variability, correlation coefficients, upland rice and varieties.