Evaluation of rice genotypes for salinity tolerance at the seedling stage

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the main staple food crops taken throughout the world. The production of rice is harshly affected by salinity, in chief at the seedling stage. Therefore, the great task for rice breeders is to research and improve the rice varieties. It is important to identify donors, possessing genes for salt tolerance for successful breeding to develop salinity tolerant rice varieties. The morphological screening was performed with 14 advanced rice lines of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) along with check varieties in salinized and non-salinized conditions at glasshouse of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) for evaluation of salinity tolerance. The test entries were evaluated for their tolerance to salinity in a hydroponic system at seedling stage using IRRI standard protocol. Six lines viz. RC-225, RC-222, RC-291, RC-248, RC-251 and RC-193 were identified as salt tolerant. The moderately salinity tolerant germplasms were viz. RC-227, RC-229, RC-249, RC-221 and RC-292. The lines RC-217, RC-252 and RC-250 were salt susceptible. Based on the study, the identified salt tolerant lines would be used as donors and crossed with recurrent parents to develop salinity tolerant varieties to meet the needs of farmers in coastal regions.

Key words: Hydroponic system, Salinity tolerance, Rice.