Dissecting the morpho-physiological and biochemical responses in some traditional rice cultivars under submergence stress

Submergence is a major constraint that delimits rice productivity in Assam of Northeast India where rice is widely cultivated. Most of the agricultural field of Assam are flood prone that leads to a huge decrease in rice production and therefore, it is necessary to identify the submergence tolerant rice to be exploited for future rice breeding program. Six traditional rice cultivars selected from flood prone area of Assam, India were subjected to submerge stress for 7 and 14 days and their morpho-physiological, biochemical and antioxidant properties were analysed. Based on the overall analyses, Maguri, Nania and Kola Joha have been recorded as tolerant while Bora and Prasadbhog showed susceptible traits as compared to controls. However, in biochemical analysis, shoot and root showed significant differences in antioxidant activity. In case of shoots, Swarnasub1, Nania and Maguri exhibited the tolerance characteristics while Lachit along with Bora, Prasadbhog and Kola Joha were susceptible. On the other hand, root antioxidant analyses showed that Kola Joha was sharing tolerance trait with Swarnasub1 whereas, Prasadbhog and Bora appeared to be susceptible. From this investigation, we also evaluated the enzymatic and non enzymatic analyses under submergence stress with an aim to screen out the best cultivars that could be further utilized for developing submerged tolerant rice cultivar. © 2021, Society for Plant Research.