AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND GRAIN QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF SMALLGRAIN AROMATIC RICE ADVANCED BREEDING LINES IN BANGLADESH.

In Bangladesh, where rice plays a crucial role in both sustenance and economy, aromatic rice varieties have gained prominence due to their distinct taste and fragrance. This study evaluated the agronomic performance, grain quality, and cooking properties of four advanced breeding lines of small-grain aromatic rice that we developed at the Advanced Seed Research and Biotech Centre (ASRBC), ACI Limited, Bangladesh, alongside eighteen locally popular aromatic rice varieties and three check varieties. The study identified ASRBCR 1017-B-12-3 and ASRBCR 1017-B-13-2 as superior genotypes, exhibiting excellent results in terms of effective tillers, grains per panicle, aroma and overall yield. A greater plant height (168cm) was observed in Chinigura, while ASRBCR 1017-B-13-1 had the lowest height (90cm). ASRBCR 1017-B-13-2 had the maximum tiller count (12), and ASRBCR 1017-B-18-2 had the highest number of grains per panicle (350). Bashful (Golden) had the highest thousand-grain weight (19.17g). Detailed assessments of grain quality parameters revealed significant variations in grain length, length-tobreadth ratio, aroma intensity, and cooked rice elongation among the tested genotypes. The Bashful variety (golden) had the longest grain length (7.13mm), and the Madhumala variety had the highest length-tobreadth ratio. All four advanced breeding lines exhibited a grain length of approximately 4mm and a grain breadth ranging from 2.12 to 2.48mm, with a cooked rice elongation ratio ranging from 1.72 to 1.85. In addition, aroma/fragrance genotyping using SSR marker BADEX7-5 showed the presence of fragrance in all the test advanced lines, with common banding patterns, but absence of bands for aroma in Madhumala and BRRI dhan90. Results provide insights into trait interactions, choice of genotypes, and breeding for optimum yields as well as quality in aromatic rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]