Evaluation of Drought Tolerance Indices in Selected Rice Genotypes of Nigeria

Abstract

Drought is one of the main problems of rice cultivation and production especially during period of low rainfall which affect the vegetative growth rate and yield. This study was aimed to evaluate drought tolerance indices of the selected rice accessions of Nigeria. The research was conducted in the Biological Garden of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. The released rice accessions were collected from Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR Zaria), International Fund on Agricultural Development (IFAD) Sokoto and Maslaha Seed Gusau, while that of the landraces were collected from local farmers in Talata Mafara. Seeds were sown in the nursery bed and later transfered to plastic pot containing clay soil. The experimental design used for this research was completely randomized design and each treatment was replicated three times. The drought tolerance indices was evaluated using the formulars of Mean
Productivity (MP), Tolerance index (TOL), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Stress Tolerance Index (STI) and Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP). Results on drought tolerance indices indicated that, Wita-4, SDR-2, Faro-44 and Oryza glaberimma had the highest tolerance indices. It was observed that Faro-44, SDR-2, Wita-4 and O. glaberimma could be adapted by farmers in semi-arid regions based on their drought tolerance indices.