BY: MUHAMMAD SYAMIM BIN JAIRI (ALUMNI PELANDUK 2020-2024)

Rice is the most widely grown and eaten cereal in Malaysia and one of the countries that considered paddy as an important crop (Firdaus et al., 2020). MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute) is a government body that responsible to meet rice demand. Low tolerance of paddy towards drought is a major causes of low rice yield production. This is the huge problem for Malaysia because it affects rice yield production. Therefore, yield progress must develop in sustainable manner to meet the increasing rice demand. This study sought to investigate the comparison of profile of proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), and electrolyte leakage (EL) among 15 Malaysian indica rice cultivars as response to drought stress and to identify drought tolerance level among the rice genotypes. These three biochemical markers were widely used to identify the drought tolerance in plant specifically in agricultural sector. In this study, seeds of fifteen Malaysian indica rice cultivars were provided by MARDI, Seberang Perai, Penang which are KADARIA 1, MR157, MR159, MR185, MR211, MR219, MR220, MR220 (CL 1), MR253, MR263, MR269, MR284, MR315, SIRAJ 297 and SEMPADAN 303 that commonly planted by MARDI. These seeds were soaked in distilled water and the sunk seeds were sterilized with 70% of alcohol. Then, the sterilized seeds were grown under normal and drought condition in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates for each treatment respectively. After three months, first paddy leaf for normal and drought treatment were used to determine the total of proline content (Bates et al., 1973), measure the level of lipid peroxidation (Heath & Packer, 1986), and membrane stability (Sairam and Srivastava, 2001). Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted by using SPSS window version 25 to determine the significant difference between control and drought treatment among 15 rice seeds cultivars at confidence level p<0.05. Then, cluster analysis was performed to determine which cultivars shared the similar characteristics and related to each other based on the total of proline content, malondialdehyde, and electrolyte leakage. The results obtained show SEMPADAN 303 had the maximal proline content under stress (66.67%) while KADARIA 1 had the greatest reduction (-95.60%). Malondialdehyde content was the greatest in MR185 under stress (36.36%), however, MR220 showed the minimal malondialdehyde content (-33.33%). SEMPADAN 303 was observed had the most increment in electrolyte leakage under stress (14.84%), however, MR315 recorded the highest reduction of electrolyte leakage (-6.80%). Cluster analysis shown MR157 and MR211 were identified as the most drought tolerant and closely related to each other in cluster 1 (Figure 1). Thus, this finding may provide valuable to MARDI for breeding purposed and farmers to be planted under drought conditions.

Figure 1. Cluster analysis between 15 Malaysian indica rice cultivars

Tarikh Input: 03/01/2025 | Kemaskini: 10/02/2025 | zulkif