EXPLORATION OF LOCAL COASTAL RICE GERMPLASM OFBANGLADESH FOR DEVELOPING SALT-TOLERANT ZINCBIOFORTIFIED LINES

A significant amount of the net cultivable land of Bangladesh is in coastal areas, which are being affected by increasing salinity every year due to climate change. Scientists have attempted to overcome such rice production barriers by developing high yielding salttolerant rice. Salt-tolerant rice varieties usually contain a poor amount of zinc, an essential micronutrient for the nutritional security of all consumers. So the objective of this study was to develop salt-tolerant biofortified rice genotypes with Zinc. The coastal region of the country stores enormous rice diversity, but studies to characterize and improve the local coastal germplasm are limited. The present study aimed to characterize the coastal rice germplasm of Bangladesh for their usage in breeding manipulation and utilize them towards the development of salt-tolerant zinc-enriched rice. The experiment utilized 150 rice germplasm, of which 100 were collected from Bangladesh's coastal region, and the remaining 50 were advanced lines developed from coastal materials. Morphological and biochemical characterizations were done along with screening in hydroponics following the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) standard protocol. Based on the morphobiochemical performances of local rice, eight better-performing genotypes were selected, namely Chunokati mota, Kataribhog, Hatipajor, Pajam dhan, Dingamanik, Advanced line-15, Advanced line-44, and Advanced line-45 for hybridization with two Zinc-enriched modern varieties of Bangladesh, namely- BRRI dhan72 and BRRI dhan74. Among sixteen cross combinations, Chunokati mota x BRRI dhan72 was found as salt-tolerant and Zinc-enriched over both mid parent and better parent heterosis. The prospective local germplasm of this study could be utilized in the future for exploring the genetic architecture in favor of salt tolerance. Information obtained from this experiment can be useful for future breeding programs to obtain a combination of salt tolerance and higher zinc in rice.