Identification of cold tolerant rice genotypes and associated traits at seedling stage

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important C3 crop and it is the staple food crop in the world. Rice is susceptible towards cold, hence an attempt was made to identify cold tolerance genotypes. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with 3 replications in 40 rice genotypes. Rice genotype K 32and K107 showed higher mean values for seven physiological characters viz., germination %, total seedling length, seedling vigour index, shoot length, root length, root dry weight and total seed dry weight. Association pattern, direct and indirect effect was analyzed for identifying character related to cold stress, which revealed that the characters viz., germination percent, total seedling length and root length as reliable indicators. Hence selection for these characters could aid in identifying cold tolerant genotypes at seedling stage.