| dc.description.abstract | Water deficit is a major problem in rice grown under rainfed conditions. It affects
plant growth and development and ultimately leads to a considerable yield reduction or crop
failure. Although the rice crop is susceptible to water deficit, there is a marked genotypic
variation in rooting pattern in rice in response to water deficit. Drought tolerant cultivars have
deep and thick roots. The thick roots are positively correlated with xylem vessel area, which
are vital to the conductance of water from soil to the upper parts of the plants to meet the
evaporative demand. The objective of this experiment was to investigate the possibility that
the three developed rainfed rice varieties referred to as, New Rice for Africa (NERICA) and
coded as N2, N4 and N11 might reveal cultivars specific diversity in the regulatory
mechanisms underlying their different responses to water deficit with a view of … | en_US |
