Character Evaluation of Upland Rice Varieties on Various Water Provision Levels

Abstract

This study aims to determine the efficiency of water use between genotype and identify the characters of upland rice varieties tolerant to drought stress. The experiment was conducted in a plastic house in North Aceh, in January 2015 to May 2015. The study design was split plot design with three replications and two treatment factors. The first factor is drought stress (C) which consisted of 4 capacity airy levels namely: C1: 20%, C2: 40%, C3: 60% and C4: 80%. The second factor is the 10 upland rice varieties which consists of three groups, namely (tolerant group varieties) which consists of Ciapus, Inpago 4, and Inpago 8; (moderate group varieties) which consist of Inpago 5, Situ Bangendit, Inpago7, Towuti; and (susceptible group varieties) which consists of Inpari 6 Jete, Inpari 33 and Sintanur. The results of the study showed changes in character of dry root weight and ratio of canopy, number of panicles per clump1000, grains and grain production per clump as a result of drought stress at 20% of field capacity (C1). Tolerant varieties (Inpago 4, Inpago 8, Ciapus) shows avoidance mechanisms to drought stress by increasing weight of dry root, reducing the ration of canopy and decreasing the number of 1000 grains and grain production is smaller and stable.