TY - JOUR AU - Santosh Kumar*, Sharad Kumar Dwivedi and S S Singh PY - 2014/09/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Effect of water stress at reproductive stage on yield potential and stability of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes grown in rainfed lowland conditions JF - <i>Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding</i> JA - EJPB VL - 5 IS - 3 SE - Research Article DO - UR - https://ejplantbreeding.org/index.php/EJPB/article/view/13 AB - The present study was conducted at ICAR research complex for eastern region, Patna during kharif 2012 and2013 with objective to identify rice genotypes having high yield potential and stability under water stress(drought) conditions. Fifteen rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes were grown under irrigated and water stressconditions. Water stress was imposed at reproductive stage by withholding irrigation supply. Yield and yieldattributesof rice genotypes under water stress condition were recorded. The effects of water stress on variousphysio-morphological traits associated with drought tolerance were also studied at reproductive stage. Resultsrevealed that, significant yield decline was observed in most of the genotypes grown under stress conditioncompared to non-stress condition. Drought susceptibility index (DSI) and relative grain yield (RY) were usedto illustrate yield stability and yield potential, respectively. Significant variation in drought susceptibility indexand relative yield values within genotypes were observed. The DSI values ranged from 0.68 to 1.46 and themean RY values were 0.85 for irrigated plots and 0.77 for water stressed plots. The rice genotypes IR 83376-BB-24-2, IR 83373-B-B-24-3 IR 84895-B-B-127-CRA-5-1-1 and IR83387-B-B-27-4 showed high yieldpotential and stability (i.e. DSI<1; and RY>mean RY). These drought tolerant genotypes were also superior interms of grain yield and higher content of desired physio-morphological traits in terms of plant biomass,relative water content, soluble protein and proline content. These drought tolerant rice genotypes may beadopted in large area in rainfed lowland ecosystem where drought is frequent, particularly at reproductivestage. ER -