Screening of rice varieties resistant to drought

A study was conducted at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan during November 2012 to January 2013 to compare the drought tolerance among five local rice varieties; MR 232, MR 220, MR 263, MR 219 and MR 253. The objective of this study was to identify the drought resistance through physiological traits among these rice varieties. Twenty one days after sowing (DAS), water stress was imposed in greenhouse for five, ten, fifteen and twenty days for Treatment 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively as drought effect, followed by re-watering till harvesting. Plant height, number of green leaf, number of tiller, plant biomass and Leaf Area Ratio (LAR) were measured throughout the planting period. The control plants (Treatment 1) were well watered throughout the study. Result from the analysis conducted by using 2-way ANOVA and Duncan Test, number of green leaves and number of tillers were the suitable physiological traits to be used in selecting the drought resistance rice variety. The leaf rolling and recovery scale can be used to indicate the resistance level of the rice variety toward water stress. Among the tested varieties in this experiment, variety MR 232 was the most suitable variety to be planted in water limiting areas.