Evaluation of phenotypic variation and genetic parameters in coloured rice varieties/lines to improve functional grain quality

Abstract

Coloured rice is considered a specialty rice variety, has significant antioxidant properties, and beneficial effects for human health. This study was conducted to evaluate the agronomic traits, quality, and antioxidant capacity on 45 coloured rice varieties/lines and the multi-trait genotype-ideotype distance index (MGIDI) to select the most potential coloured rice varieties/lines. The results showed substantial genetic and phenotypic variation. The anthocyanin content varied widely, spanning from 5.3 to 315.3 mg/g. The broad-sense heritability (H²_bs) coefficient ranged from 44 to 87% for the traits. The first principal component analysis (PCA1) contributed 22.5% of the total variance, while the second principal component (PCA2) contributed 14.3%. Based on the MGIDI, seven elite coloured rice varieties/lines including Nep do, Phuoc Ly, Soc nau 2, Lut tim 2, Blau Sang, Lut tim 1, and NT Dak Ha were chosen. Therefore, these selected coloured rice lines/varieties will be a valuable resource for future functional rice breeding programmes aimed at developing nutrient-rich varieties that contribute to improved consumer health.