Grain Quality Evaluation of WA-CMS-Derived Rice Hybrids Across Three Environments
Aim: This study aims to characterise physical, milling, cooking and physicochemical grain-quality variation among WA-CMS-derived rice hybrids and identify combinations with balanced quality performance across three environments. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Rajendranagar, Kampasagar and Kunaram, Telangana, India, during kharif 2025. Methodology: Thirty-six F1 hybrids developed from three wild-abortive cytoplasmic male-sterile lines and twelve fertility restorers were evaluated with their parents and four checks in randomised block designs with three replications. Thirteen grain-quality traits were assessed from pooled multi-environment data. Pearson correlation, principal-component analysis and an equal-weight exploratory balanced-quality index were used to examine trait relationships and identify broadly desirable combinations. Results: Wide variation was observed for milling percentage (55.00-75.67%), head rice recovery (45.72-61.20%), kernel length (4.79-6.73 mm), kernel length/breadth ratio (2.12-3.20), kernel length after cooking (7.73-9.54 mm), kernel elongation ratio (1.27-1.79), chalkiness (4.93-30.90%), amylose content (19.74-26.08%) and gel consistency (35.19-75.81 mm). RMS-2 × SN-2071 was superior for milling percentage and head rice recovery, whereas RMS-2 × SN-2756 recorded the lowest chalkiness. Milling percentage was strongly associated with head rice recovery (r = 0.96), kernel length was strongly associated with the length/breadth ratio (r = 0.85), and amylose content was inversely associated with gel consistency (r = -0.97). The first two principal components explained 43.9% of total variation. CMS-59 × SN-2183, RMS-2 × SN-2756, CMS-59 × SN-2705, CMS-64 × SN-2183 and RMS-2 × SN-2717 showed the most balanced overall quality profiles. Conclusion: WA-CMS-derived hybrids exhibited exploitable variation for multiple grain-quality dimensions. The identified balanced-quality combinations merit multi-season validation, sensory assessment and market-class evaluation before advancement in hybrid-rice breeding programmes.