Physiological Assessment and Allele Mining in Rice Cultivars for Salinity and Drought Stress Tolerance

Drought and salinity stresses badly influence rice plant growth and yield. The rising efforts to advance rice genotypes for drought and salt tolerance necessitate the selection of tolerant genotypes. Here, a total 51 rice genotypes were tested for salinity and moisture stress tolerance at germination and early seedling growth in NaCl (200 mM) and PEG-6000 (20%). Physiological and biochemical parameters viz., seed morphology, seed germination, length, fresh weight, dry weight and proline accumulation were evaluated with respect to salt and drought stress, depicting that rice genotypes performed differentially in their response to these stresses. Allelic variations with reference to the control varieties were found and these alleles can be used as a source of genomic approach and mining of elite alleles. The present study provides the information about the significant variation in salinity and drought tolerance subsisting within tested rice genotypes, which intended to make available with great promise for improving salt and drought tolerance in rice.