Effect of High Temperature and Water Stress on Pollen Germination and Spikelet Fertility in Rice
Future climates are expected to expose rice to high temperature and water stress during crucial stages of development such as flowering. Z.W. Rang of Hunan Agricultural University, China, together with other scientists conducted a study to measure the effect of high temperature and water stress on rice spikelet fertility. They exposed five rice genotypes to high temperature, water stress, and combined high temperature and water stress during flowering.
Through microscopic analyses, it was revealed that there were significant variations in the time of anther opening during maturity between treatments and genotypes, with moderately high association with the number of germinated pollen grains on the stigma.
All the treatments resulted to spikelet sterility, with the high temperature treatment causing highest sterility. It was also observed that spikelet fertility declines as the temperature increases. Among the five genotypes, N22, an Aus rice cultivar is a good high temperature and water deficit stress tolerant donor.
Read the abstract at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2010.08.009.
This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)
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