Puskur Raghuveer Rao

• B.SC(Ag).M.Sc(Plant Physiology)Ph.D(Plant Physiology)
• Principal Investigator at ICAR-IIRR

The global application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers continues to rise in efforts to bolster agricultural productivity. However, this surge in usage has led to significant N losses, resulting in low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) among genotypes and consequent water and air pollution. Although many studies advocate reducing N fertilizer usage, researc...

Key traits for determining rice grain yield include the total number of spikelets per panicle (STOT), the total number of grains per panicle (GTOT), and the percentage of grain filling per panicle (GFTOT). Molecular genetic basis of grain yield is complex and regulates several interconnected genes. Identification of candidate genes and their favour...

Among various panicle traits, total number of spikelets, total number of grains and total grain filling % can be considered as main traits for determining yield in rice.Query To identify the genotypes with promising grain number at different positions of the panicle, a set of 72 germplasm comprising landraces and varieties were evaluated for 28 pan...

In the present investigation, a mapping population consisting of 189 lines derived from an inter sub-specific cross between an indica cultivar, ‘Samba Mahsuri’ and a tropical japonica accession, ‘Cuba 65’ was investigated to assess the trait contribution to variability employing principal component analysis (PCA). The study aimed at determination o...

DRR Dhan 70 [IET 29415 (RP 6326-278-14-1)], an aerobic rice variety was developed from MTU 1010 × WGL 505. It was evaluated in AICRIP multi-location aerobic rice trials during wet seasons of 2020 to 2022. The DRR Dhan 70 consistently surpassed the performance of the comparison varieties in Odisha and Bihar states (Zone III), achieving a mean grain...

DRR Dhan 70 [IET 29415 (RP 6326-278-14-1)], an aerobic rice variety was developed from MTU 1010 × WGL 505. It was evaluated in AICRIP multi-location aerobic rice trials during wet seasons of 2020 to 2022. The DRR Dhan 70 consistently surpassed the performance of the comparison varieties in Odisha and Bihar states (Zone III), achieving a mean grain...

The architecture of the rice panicle is a crucial focus in breeding for both high yield and quality. It stands as a significant agronomic trait that influences the number of grains per panicle, playing a direct role in contributing to the overall yield of rice grains. Unravelling the genetic basis of panicle architecture is crucial for improving th...

Higher grain yield in high-yielding rice varieties is mostly driven by nitrogen (N) fertilizer applied in abundant amounts leading to increased production cost and environmental pollution. This has fueled the studies on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) to decrease the N fertilizer application in rice to the possible extent. NUE is a complex physiologi...

Phytic acid present in rice grain is an anti-nutrient that hinders the absorption of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) ions in the human digestive system. Estimation of phytic acid is a part of the biofortification studies targeted to enhance micronutrient content in the rice grain. Among the various methods of phytic acid estimation, colorimetric method is...

Rice is an important cereal crop, is mostly grown as a staple food in developing nations. One of the main causes restricting rice productivity is drought, which has a detrimental effect on global food security. Silicon increases antioxidant activity and lessens plant oxidative damage. In the current study, eight rice cultivars were subjected to fol...

High-temperature stress (HS) due to global warming has become a serious threat to global food and nutritional security. Among the various agro-morphological and physiological changes observed in rice (Oryza Sativa L.) due to high-temperature sress, yield and grain quality are highly important and they vary among the germplasm. As reports on the eff...

Nitrogen (N) is one of the yield limiting nutrients for rice. Unwarranted usage of N fertilizer to achieve higher crop returns is affecting environment and increasing the cost of cultivation. A field experiment was conducted under two differential N experimental plots (N-Low and N-Rec) to evaluate the effect of N on photosynthesis, grain yield and...

The global warming-driven climate change is becoming a major challenge for rice cultivation in Asia and Africa. High-temperature stress impairs the physiology and growth of rice plant, and ultimately results in reduced grain yield. This study was aimed to decipher the physiological and molecular changes occurring during different growth stages of h...

Aims: To assess heat-induced PSII damage and efficiency in eight promising backcross introgression lines (BC2F6) of KMR-3R/N22 possessing qHTSF1.1 and qHTSF4.1. Study Design: Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad India during wet/rainy (Kharif)...

Under global climate change, drought and heat stress combination is often noticed in field conditions. Compared with individual stress, this combination is additive and negatively affects the crops at various growth phases and ultimately decreasees the agricultural crop productivity and grain quality. Existing literature indicates that drought and...

Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in rice production and increased rice productivity is attributed mostly to the nitrogen fertilizer responsive rice varieties. With its relevance to environment, breeding for nitrogen use efficiency is now a research priority in rice. Based on the physiological, biochemical and genetic studies, several...

Recent predictions on climate change indicate that high temperature episodes are expected to impact rice production and productivity worldwide. The present investigation was undertaken to assess the yield stability of 72 rice hybrids and their parental lines across three temperature regimes over two consecutive dry seasons using the additive main e...

Rice grain yield and quality are affected by the high temperature stress to a large extent. Four promising backcross introgression lines (BC2 F8 ) of KMR-3R/N22 carrying qHTSF1.1, qHTSF4.1 and HT Score QTLs were evaluated for high-temperature induced rice grain and cooking quality during Rabi 2021. Late-sown staggered planting was adopted to ensure...

Rice is an important staple food crop across the world. It is mainly cultivated under irrigated lowland and also rain-fed upland conditions where drought stress is often noticed. Global climate change predicts an intensification of drought stress in future due to uneven rainfall which was witnessed for the last few years. Confronting drought stress...

To understand the molecular mechanism of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice, two nitrogen (N) use efficient genotypes and two non-efficient genotypes were characterized using transcriptome analyses. The four genotypes were evaluated for 3 years under low and recommended N field conditions for 12 traits/parameters of yield, straw, nitrogen conten...

The experimental field was laid in RBD replicated thrice with 30 high yielding rice genotypes which includes 26 advanced breeding lines (ABL) (SP-351, SP-352, SP-353, SP-354, SP-355, SP-356, SP-357, SP-358, SP-359, SP-360, SP-70, SP-72, SP-63, SP-61, SP-69, SP-55, SP-80, SP-25, SP-13, SP-03, SP-02, SP-34, SP-37, SP-08, SP-75 and SP-57) and four che...

The consequences of climate change are drastically impacting field crop production; it is an immense prerequisite to attribute resilience through crop improvement. Thus, the breeders’ task is to sustain yield potential in changing climate, which imperils the food grain security. Globally, high temperature is one of the grounds that support climate...

To identify the genomic regions for yield and NUE of rice genotypes and lines with promising yield under low N, a recombinant inbred population (RIL) developed between BPT5204 (a mega variety known for its quality) and PTB1 (variety with high NUE) was evaluated for consecutive wet and dry seasons under low nitrogen (LN) and recommended nitrogen (RN...

New plant type core set comprising indica and tropical japonica accessions along with checks were evaluated for yield and culm strength related traits and characterized with gene specific markers viz., Gn1a, DEP1, Ghd7, SPL14, GS5, TGW6 and SCM2. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences as well as presence of variability among the geno...

Genetic diversity in New Plant Type core set of rice was studied at molecular level employing 52 yield related and 12 randomly chosen markers. 42 markers were polymorphic among the genotypes with a total of 84 alleles. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 4 with an average of 3.0 per locus. The PIC value ranged from 0.07 to 0.51 with an...

A field investigation was carried out during 2 winter seasons (rabi) of 201213 and 201314 at the ICAR-Direc- torate of Rice Research, Hyderabad, Telangana to assess the impact of mulching and moisture regime treatments on transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) productivity and economics. Results revealed that saturation moisture re- gime affected 35%...

The aim of present investigation was to study the gross morphology and incidence of canine mammary tumors (CMTs) based on age, sex, breed, reproductive status and location along with histopathological classification and immunohistochemical characteristics. A total of 56 CMTs samples were collected from 49 cases of dogs. Gross morphology was studied...

Rice, a widely grown crop all over the world provides food security to millions of people. The average productivity of rice in India is still low due to diversified environments under which it is being cultivated. Prediction and assessment of rice yields needs simplified precision models. A spatial rice decision support system (SRDSS) was designed...

With the priority of the low input sustainable rice cultivation for environment friendly agriculture, NUE of rice becomes the need of the hour. A set of 472 rice genotypes comprising landraces and breeding lines were evaluated for two seasons under field conditions with low and recommended nitrogen and >100 landraces were identified with relative h...

Exploitation of hybrids is of greater importance to increase the productivity of rice, as it is a staple food around the world. Hybrid rice is developed by exploiting the phenomenon of heterosis. To evaluate the phenomenon of heterosis, a pot culture experiment was conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, during Kharif 2014....

This study was conducted to characterize new plant type (NPT) traits among 650 genetically diverse rice genotypes of tropical japonica and indica and to establish an initial core set for NPT traits. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits assessed except flag length and width and leaf angl...

Presence of adequate genetic variability and its critical analysis are needed for initiating any crop improvement programme and for adopting appropriate selection techniques. An investigation was carried out to know the extent of genetic variability present in forty six genotypes of rice during kharif 2017. Analysis of variance revealed highly sign...

This paper examines the yield and yield attributes under different planting methods and nitrogen treatments. Yield attributes like panicle length, filled grain and unfilled grain percentage, test weight, grain yield, straw yield and harvest index performed well under system of rice intensification compared to normal transplantation. Among the nitro...

A field experiment was conducted at Indian Institute of Rice Research farm, Rajendranagar, during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2012 and 2014 to evaluate the association between leaf traits of top three leaves with grain yield. Among the top three leaves the length of 3rd leaf is more compared to 2nd and 1st leaf, whereas the width and the rate of...

An experiment was conducted with 58 rice genotypes at ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research Farm, Hyderabad during kharif 2014 season and evaluated for 10 yield attributing characters using D2 analysis in order to study the diversity pattern among the genotypes. The genotypes were grouped into 13 clusters, of which clusters VII and XII (36.93) fol...

Present experiment was taken up entitled “study the effect of high temperature stress on pollen viability, stigma exertion, sterility in rice” at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during Kharif, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 in split-plot design with treatments (Normal temperature and temperature stress) as main plot treatments...

Studies carried out to assess the Leaf growth parameters as influenced by system of rice intensification and normal transplantation methods with different nitrogen management practices. Leaf growth parameters like leaf area, leaf area index and leaf area duration was high under system of rice intensification compared to normal transplantation. Amon...

Present experiment was taken up entitled "evaluation of rice genotypes for high temperature tolerance under field conditions in rice at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during kharif, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 in split-plot design with treatments (control and high temperature stress) as main plot treatments and 22 genotypes...

Nitrogen is one of the fundamental key element required for crop growth and development. Excessive use of N in crop production has become a major global concern as it is causing environmental degradation through soil–water and also atmosphere. Increasing N use efficiency (NUE) and a balance of crop yields to achieve food security is the need of cur...

Carbon balancing within the plant species is an important feature for climatic adaptability. Photosynthesis and respiration traits are directly linked with carbon balance. These features were studied in 20 wild rice accessions Oryza spp., and cultivars. Wide variation was observed within the wild rice accessions for photosynthetic oxygen evolution...

A field experiment was conducted to know the effect of foliar spray of boron (B) on dry matter accumulation in seven rice genotypes. B application had a positive impact on LAI at both flowering and maturity stages, however, it was significant at maturity stage. Maximum LAI was obtained at 0.4ppm B spray and genotype IET 21519 recorded maximum LAI a...

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) fertilizer on growth, development and yield of Upland, IRHTN, DRR and other released rice groups. Six varieties from each group, a total of 18 genotypes were planted in randomized complete block design during dry (2011) and wet (2012) seasons with three replications at India...

Abstract In a set of 78 aromatic rice genotypes, cluster analysis was performed for yield and its related traits in field under two nitrogen (N) conditions viz., application of N fertilizer (N100) and without application of N fertilizer (N0) during wet season, 2011 and dry season, 2012. Basmati370 and Ranbir basmati were selected as high nitrogen u...

Among the neo-nicotinoids, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam have been frequently used in planthopper endemic areas. Wherever leaffolder incidence occurs along with planthoppers in the rice fields, use of neo-nicotinoids has resulted in increase in leaffolder population. The present study was carried out to verify and confirm the resurgence as well as...

Rice is an important cereal crop, adaptable in various types of land management systems in India. In this study, vulnerability of rice crop to increased temperatures and CO2 concentration is examined using Oryza2000 model. AICRIP data of plant physiology trials from locations namely viz., Pantnagar, Pattambi, Coimbatore, Karaikal, Umiam and Titabar...

Root system plays vital role in absorption of water and mineral nutrients for plants' need. Nitrogen is very important macronutrient for plant's growth and yield. The selected 10 genotypes were screened for nitrogen use efficiency based on Root Dry Weight Efficiency Index (RDWEI), yield and their nitrogen content. The results of this study proved t...

Variation in the response of six diverse rice genotypes to imposed water stress was investigated in terms of leaf photosynthetic traits and leaf water potential measurements (Ψleaf) during and following a period of water stress. The Ψleaf reduced from 0 days up to 6th day of irrigation deprivation and the reduction in Ψleaf was more pronounced in S...

Field experiments were conducted at DRR farm located at ICRISAT, Patancheru, in sandy clay loam soils during four seasons, Kharif 2008, Rabi 2008–2009, Kharif 2009 and Rabi 2009–2010, to investigate growth parameters, water-saving potential, root characteristics, chemical, biological, and microbial properties of rhizosphere soil, and grain yield of...

India is one of the major rice exporting countries. An attempt was made in this paper to analyse the structure and direction of rice exports from India during 1995-96 to 2010-11. The results revealed wide fluctuations both in terms of quantity and value of rice exported from India. The paper concludes with some suggestions to enhance the export of...

Yield potential of irrigated rice has experienced two quantum leaps (Chen et al., 2002). The first one was brought about by the development of semi-dwarf varieties in the late 1950s in China and early 1960s at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Dwarf breeding based on ideotype breeding began in China in 1956 using the Sd-1 gene from...

Variations in leaf gas-exchange characteristics, leaf pigment content, and other important leaf traits were investigated in seven wild Oryza species, five hybrids, and five improved varieties. The significant variations were observed in photosynthetic pigment contents amongst different species of Oryza. The mean chlorophyll (Chl) content was higher...

Nitrogen (N) plays an important role in plant growth, development and also one of the major factor for developing a high-yielding rice cultivars. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in plants is a complex phenomenon that depends on a number of internal and external factors, which include soil N availability, its uptake and assimilation of carbon and nitr...

A field study was conducted to investigate the influence of foliar application of potassium iodide (KI) to simulate post-anthesis water stress on stem dry matter remobilization and yield. KI treatment had significantly reduced total chlorophyll content in all tested varieties and significant varietal differences were observed. KI application had no...

Rice, grown on a wide range of soils with varying soil pH levels boron (B) availability, uptake and mobilization could be limiting hence may lead to lower productivity and rice yields has been tested at 11 locations on low yielding rice genotypes from, Initial Evaluation Trials (IET) of AICRIP viz.IET 20979, IET 21003, IET 21007, IET 21014, IET 210...

Spikelet sterility is one of the poorly understood complex problems in rice and rarely harvest index exceeded 50 % in crop plants. Experiments were conducted on 800 rice cultures belonging to wide range, to identify genotypes that have low spikelet sterility, and N influence on selected genotypes, adapting a split plant technique approach to reduce...

The authors are grateful to the Project Director, DRR for providing necessary facilities . Financial assistance(stipend) received from ANGRAU by P.Gauthami during M.SC. (Ag) degree programme is duly acknowledged. Influence of simulated post-anthesis water stress induced by foliar application of KI on stem dry matter remobilization, yield and yield...

Heat stress is a present day hot topic in the world as it throws great challenges before the scientific world by adversely affecting the crop plants and their yield, the need for resilience in all aspects of the crop and resilient varietal identification and improvement are the need of the hour. Here in this review, plant responses to heat stress m...

Box-Jenkins ARIMA Time-series modelling methodology is mostly utilized for modelling timeseries data, usually collected over time either for equal intervals or for unequal intervals. Development of time-series forecasting model using an alternate, popular but efficient "Structural Time-series Modelling (STM)" methodology in presence of trend and ir...

Heat stress is a present day hot topic in the world as it throws great challenges before the scientifi c world by adversely affecting the crop plants and their yield, the need for resilience in all aspects of the crop and resilient varietal identifi cation and improvement are the need of the hour. Here in this review, plant responses to heat stress...