Agro-morphological Characterization of the Wild Rice (Oryza longistaminata) Populations From Selected Areas of Tanzania

Abstract

The study assessed the variations in ten agro-morphological characters among and within the wild rice (O. longistaminata) populations from four selected areas, namely Bagamoyo, Kibaha, Kilombero and Mbarali in Tanzania. The study was carried out through measurement of ten quantitative agro-morphological characters, based on morphological descriptors for wild and cultivated rice species developed by Bioversity International and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Measurement of morphological characters of O. longistaminata plants was done soon after heading. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the variations in quantitative characters between O. longistaminata populations from the four study areas. The results showed existence of high genetic variations in the study areas, both within populations and among populations. In addition, the results showed significant differences between populations for all quantitative agro-morphological characters, except grain length. Moreover, some agro-morphological characters showed positive correlations to each other. The dendogram generated from the agro-morphological data grouped the O. longistaminata from the four study areas into four groups irrespective of their geographic origins, implying that there was gene flow between populations. Generally, the four O. longistaminata populations assessed exhibited a wide range of variations in morphological characters, both within the population and among populations.

Keywords: Morphological character; Oryza longistaminata; Quantitative character; Wild rice