Genetic Improvement of Rice for Saline Tolerance Under Coastal Agroecosystem of Tamil Nadu

The responses of rice to salt stress are complex, and it depends on the duration and type of salt stress, crop development stage, and other factors. It is relatively tolerant to both salinity and alkalinity during the germination stage. Salinity work on rice is carried out at different states of India, including Tamil Nadu. The present research work was carried out to evaluate 66 entries during 2016–2017, 88 entries during 2017–2018, and 82 rice entries during Kharif 2018–2019 for saline tolerance using augmented block design at Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India. The yield and yield attributing traits recorded significant variability among all the genotypes studied. The grain yield per hectare recorded maximum with CSSR 2016-IR18–17, CARI DHAN7, CSSR 2016-IR18–12, CSSR 2016-IR18–7, CSR2016-IR18-9, CST 7-1, CARI Dhan 10, CR3881-M-3-1-5-3-1-1, CSR2016-IR18-10, CSR-17817, CSR11-143, CSR-C27SM- 117, JK-95, CSR-2748-4441-66 and CSR-2748-4441-133. High heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean were observed for all the characters except productive tillers per plant. This indicated the predominance of additive gene action for all the traits. These genotypes were found to be promising for majority of the traits studied and recorded yield of more than 5 tons/ha under salinity stress condition at Annamalai Nagar location. Hence, these genotypes can be utilized for further crop improvement work for salinity tolerance. Apart from the above, Annamalai Nagar Centre serves as a voluntary center for All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project (AICRIP) and contributed for “Stress Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia” (STRASA). This chapter discusses about the saline tolerance work done in rice in Tamil Nadu, in particular at Annamalai Nagar.