Adaptability of Aman paddy under Sundarban areas of West Bengal

Abstract

The vast areas of coastal saline zone of West Bengal, popularly known as Sundraban, are mainly monocropped with rice. To increase the rice productionof these areas it is necessary to identify the high yielding genotypes adaptable to the prevailing conditions. Adaptability is one of the most important chracteristics of a genotype which could also be utilized to breed a variety for specific environment. Finlay [1] has observed in oat and barley that a high percentage of lines with greatly increased yiled and adaptability can be obtained by crossing a widely adapted genotype with the one specifically adapted to high yielding environme"ts i.e., one which has potentiality for yield. Norden [2] also suggested to select high yielding lines from the same area of adaptationfor breeding of higher yield in groundnut. In this context, the present investigation was undertaken to identify the adapted genotypes from large collection of Aman rice suitable for Sundarban areas as well as to identify the pare"t material for rice improvement programme.