Phenotypic Diversity for Agro-Morphological Traits in 105 Landraces of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) from Santhal Parganas, Jharkhand, India

One hundred five accessions of traditional rice landraces collected from tribal areas of Santhal Parganas, Jharkhand, India were characterized for 11 qualitative and 13 quantitative traits. The study revealed high degree of variation in agro-morphological traits of rice accessions with a Shannon diversity Index ranging from 0.236 to 0.951. The coefficient of variation was more than 10 % for most of the characters, highest being total number of spikelets per panicle (39.75 %). Considering the farmers’ traditional knowledge and experimental findings, genotypes identified for desirable attributes are:- leaf area (>50.0 sq cm) in landraces Gangasar, Banspallah and Bhedia; ear bearing tillers (>12.0 nos) in Lahana; long panicle (>30.0 cm) in Laldhan and Bahiar, higher number of primary branches/panicles (>15.0 nos) in Laldhan; 100-grain weight (2.80 g) in Badhan dhan, Tohfan and Sathi whereas fine grain (kernel length 7.2 mm and L/W ratio 3.0 or more) in Jalad, Kalamkathi, Kalama and Banspalah-1. The genotype Kalamkathi, a fine grained variety with good yield potential and other quality attributes can be used in the breeding programmes to develop high yielding fine grained variety which could be of good market value for the farmers. Similarly, scented varieties like Govindbhog, Katarni and Tulsimanjari found potential parents for developing high yielding non-basmati, short grained aromatic varieties. Promising accessions suiting to different land situations/ecosystems and donors for various economic traits are discussed.