Evaluation of Basmati Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes at Morphological, Biochemical and Molecular Levels

Abstract

This study evaluated genetic diversity among 21 Basmati rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes using morphological, biochemical and molecular attributes. The field experiment was conducted in a randomised block design with three replications. Morphological and quality observations included plant height, effective tillers, flowering and maturity, grain yield, panicle length, grain dimensions, grain length-to-breadth ratio and aroma, while biochemical assessment covered starch, protein, iron, zinc and amylose content. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences among genotypes for most morphological and quality traits, except grain breadth, whereas biochemical traits showed relatively limited variation. The highest phenotypic and genotypic variances were recorded for plant height. The number of effective tillers showed the highest heritability, while panicle length showed the lowest. Molecular characterisation used 25 simple sequence repeat markers, which generated 59 amplified bands, of which 57 were polymorphic. The mean polymorphism information content was 0.45, ranging from 0 for RM145 and RM583 to 0.79 for RM26. UPGMA analysis separated the genotypes into two major clusters, with similarity coefficients ranging from 0.54 to 0.98. The combined evidence demonstrated variation among the evaluated genotypes at morphological, biochemical and molecular levels. These differences provide a basis for identifying genetically distinct material for parental selection, although broader multi-environment and genome-wide validation is required before breeding applications are confirmed.