Abstract

                                Rice ecology is endowed with several yield depressing factors of which mineral related abiotic stresses especially those of nitrogen and zinc play a predominant role. It is estimated that about 50 % of soils used for cereal production in the world have low levels of plant available Zn (Graham and Welch, 1996). Though fertilizer recommendations exist, correction of zinc deficiency via fertilization does not always remain a successful strategy due to agronomic and economic factors. As a consequence of coping with low Zn availability, certain genotypes exhibit significant variation in their tolerance to zinc stress, termed as zinc efficiency (ZE) (Graham and Rengel, 1993). Hence, a more efficient and sustainable solution to zinc deficiency limitation is the development and use of zinc efficient rice genotypes with root system capable of greater mobilization that can more efficiently function under low soil zinc conditions. Hence an attempt was made to identify zinc efficient rice genotypes based on the expression of zinc deficiency symptoms at deficient zinc supply

Key words : Genotype, Zinc