Evaluation, multiplication and selection of exotic germplasm (imported from IRRI)

Genetics on morphological, physical and physio-chemical traits play a major role in improvement of rice. Productivity of rice can be affected by biotic and abiotic stresses due to narrow genetic diversity in parental materials. Genetic diversity plays a major role in plant breeding and it is essential to broaden the genetic base by incorporating genes from diverse sources. Identifying germplasm for different morphological and grain quality characteristics in phenotypically divergent sources would help in pre-breeding and breeding programs. There is a need to exploit germplasm of rice and therefore, objective of present study was to explore the genetic diversity of exotic and local genotypes for utilizing future breeding programs.