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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Early Access

Molecular screening of parental lines and trait association for grain protein content in F2 population of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11374
Submitted
20 August 2025
Published
31-01-2026
Versions

Abstract

Rice grain protein is the second most abundant component of milled rice grain and has been extensively studied due to its significant role as a nutrient. There are very limited high grain protein varieties identified. Therefore, studying the genetics of grain protein, yield and quality traits is essential for developing a breeding program that will increase yield while maintaining rice quality. The key purpose of this research work was to identify lines with high protein content. Three diverse parents (RDR 1295, JAK 686 and JAK 685) were screened using 27 already reported grain protein markers in rice. Among these markers, 6 markers were linked with JAK 686 parent, while a single marker was linked to JAK 685 parent. So, these identified high-protein donors (JAK 686 and JAK 685) were then crossed with low-protein genotype (RDR 1295) during kharif 2020. In this study, F2 segregating populations from 2 different cross combinations in rice RDR 1295 x JAK 686 (Cross-I) and RDR 1295 x JAK 685 (Cross-II) were studied. Character association studies revealed that plant height (0.108), kernel length (0.077), kernel width (0.025) and L/B ratio (0.045) have shown a clear positive correlation with grain protein content (GPC) for Cross-I and in Cross-II, panicle length (0.041), test weight (0.065), kernel length (0.138) and kernel width (0.101) have positive association with protein content. Path coefficient analysis further indicated that, in Cross-I, kernel length (1.247) exhibited the highest direct and positive effect on GPC.  In Cross-II, the number of productive tillers per plant (0.183) showed highest direct and positive influence on GPC. The key traits identified include kernel length and kernel width, as both high correlation coefficients and direct effects displayed strong association with GPC.

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