Abstract
Rice is an important food crop, while it is severely affected by drought stress. Viewing this point in mind we conducted an experiment to see the physiological responses and yield potential of selected rice genotypes under inadequate moisture condition. Two soil moisture condition: one is sufficient moisture condition (control; 95-100% field capacity (FC)) and another is deficit moisture condition (moisture stress; 40-45% FC) with five replications was maintained. Six drought tolerant one susceptible genotype and one standard check variety were used. Results revealed that tolerant genotypes BU Acc 37 and BU Acc 32 showed the highest RWC, WRC, rate of photosynthesis, conductance of stomata, transpiration rate, total chlorophyll content, proline and soluble sugar content, while susceptible genotype BU Acc 5 showed the lowest value of those parameters during water stress condition. In contrast, the lowest WSD, WUC, accumulation of H(2)O(2) and malondialdehyde were noticed in tolerant genotypes BU Acc 37 and BU Acc 32, whereas those were the highest in susceptible genotype BU Acc 5 under deficit moisture condition. Tolerant genotype BU Acc 37 and BU Acc 32 also showed the higher antioxidant enzyme activity than the susceptible genotype BU Acc 5. Regardless of genotypes, yield contributing characteristics and yield were severely affected by deficit water stress. However, tolerant genotype BU Acc 37 showed the highest grain yield per hill, while susceptible genotype BU Acc 5 showed the lowest grain yield per hill. Hence, better accumulation ability of osmoprotectants, and the higher activity of antioxidant enzymes in the tolerant genotypes reduce the oxidative stress, enhance water relation and gas exchange attributes, and protect the yield reduction of rice.