Performance of Salt Tolerant Rice Genotypes in Coastal Saline Soils of Khulna Region During Boro Season

Abstract

The experiment was carried out at Kismat Fultola village under Batiaghata upazila in Khulna district during the Boro season 2004-05 to study the performance of five salt tolerant Participatory Variety Selection (PVS) materials and 2 somaclones. As the coastal saline area in Khulna region is mostly monocropped, these salt tolerant genotypes were chosen to investigate for adoption as boro rice variety. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. BRRI recommended fertilizer doses were applied for cultivation of rice. The data on agronomic characters viz. plant height, effective tillers hill⁻¹, panicle length (cm), filled grains panicle⁻¹, unfilled grains panicle⁻¹, 1000 grains weight, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index were recorded. Also the phenotypic acceptance like penultimate leaf angle, flag leaf angle, culm length, culm angle, panicle type, panicle exertion, etc. were also recorded. Results showed that tested genotypes had significant effect on different yield contributing characters and phenotypic acceptance. Among the five PVS materials, two somaclones and the check variety the highest grain yield was obtained from the PVS material, PVS-B3 (5.84 t ha⁻¹) and the lowest from the somaclone, BRRIdhan29-SC³-22 (2.59 t ha⁻¹). The maximum biological yield and the highest harvest index were also recorded from PVS-B3 (10.87 t ha⁻¹ and 53.73% respectively). Since, PVS-B3 performed well and produced the highest yield in the coastal saline soil, it can be considered the most suitable genotype for the development of salt-tolerant rice varieties for boro season.