Correlation among Agro-Morphological Variation and Genetic Diversity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) under Drought Stress

In this study, the correlation coefficients among agro-morphological variation, genetic diversity, and drought tolerance in 44 rice cultivars were analyzed. The drought tolerance at seeding stage (DTS) was significantly proportional to drought tolerance at vegetative stage (DTV) (r = 0.60). In addition, DTS and DTV had strong significant positive correlation to leaf roll (r = 0.87 and 0.54, respectively). Means of unfilled grains and tilling per panicle were proportionally correlated to DTS (r = 0.22 and 0.25, respectively), and DTV (r = 0.20 and 0.36, respectively). However, weight of 1000 grains and filled grains were recorded no correlation to DTS and DTV. At a homologous coefficient of 16.85 integrated from cluster analysis of agro-morphological, quantitative characteristics and drought tolerant scores, the rice cultivars were divided into five groups. Maximum polymorphic information content (PIC) values were detected in three markers including RM11125, RM21, and RM5629, which were from 0.78 to 0.79. Cluster analysis of microsatellite markers revealed that by a genetic distance of 0.63, the rice varieties were separated into three clusters. The results provide valuable information for rice breeders to select donors in breeding rice integrated with drought tolerance and good agronomic characteristics.