Monty P. Jones

Growth and yield potential of Oryza sativa and O. glaberrima upland rice cultivars and their interspecific progenies

Abstract A recent breakthrough in generating fertile progeny from Oryza sativa × O. glaberrima crosses gives rice breeders access to a broader range of germplasm. Interspecific crosses might provide new solutions to the low productivity of upland rice systems prone to weed competition. Two field and one pot experiments conducted during 1995 and 1996 served to characterize growth and yield potential of CG14 ( O. glaberrima ), WAB56-104 ( O. sativa ) and their progeny. During the 1995 wet season and the 1996 dry and wet seasons, the lines were seeded in a well-drained upland field in Ivory Coast with supplemental sprinkler irrigation. A randomized complete-block design with three replications was used, with cultivar and nitrogen levels as sub-plots. Specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area index (LAI), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD method) and tiller number were measured at 2-week intervals until flowering. Grain yield and yield components were measured at maturity. In all environments, CG14 produced two to three times the LAI and tiller numbers as WAB56-104. This was associated with a high SLA and low leaf chlorophyll content. Grain yields of CG14 did not respond to N inputs, although the sink potential did. The difference was mainly caused by grain shattering. The progenies had intermediate LAI, SLA and leaf chlorophyll content, but their grain yields, tiller numbers and resistance to lodging and grain shattering were similar to WAB56-104. Across lines, LAI and SLA were significantly correlated. A paddy field experiment confirmed the relationship between LAI and SLA for a wider range of rice cultivars and interspecific progenies. A pot experiment demonstrated that leaf net CO 2 assimilation rates ( A max ) followed a common linear function of areal leaf chlorophyll content across cultivars. The main common cause of differential LAI and A max appeared to have been genotypic patterns of SLA, which might be an important determinant of growth vigor and competitiveness with weeds. The possibility is discussed of combining, in a single line, high SLA during vegetative growth (for weed competitiveness) with low SLA during the reproductive growth phase (for high yield potential), to produce an efficient plant type for low-management conditions.

Mapping QTLs associated with drought avoidance in upland rice grown in the Philippines and West Africa.

Localizing genes that contribute to drought avoidance in a quantitative way should enable the exploitation of these genes in breeding through marker-assisted selection, and may lead to the discovery of gene identity and function. Between 110 and 176 F6 recombinant inbred lines from a mapping population derived from a cross of upland rice varieties Bala and Azucena have been evaluated for indicators of drought avoidance in sites in the Philippines and West Africa over two dry seasons. A molecular map with 102 RFLP, 34 AFLP and six microsatellite markers has been used to map (by composite interval mapping) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for the visual scores of leaf rolling and leaf drying and leaf relative water content. QTLs were mapped for each site and across sites. A total of 17 regions were identified which contained QTLs with a LOD score greater than 3.2. For leaf rolling, Bala was the parent contributing the majority of positive alleles whilst for the other traits, Bala and Azucena contributed more evenly. Six of the 17 regions influenced more than one trait, explaining the phenotypic correlations between traits that were observed. Three QTLs appeared to be specific to the Philippines experiments. One QTL had opposing effects in the Philippines and West Africa. QTLs for relative water content were detected on chromosome 8, congruent with an osmotic adjustment QTL identified in another population. Only three of the QTLs identified here have not been reliably identified in the two other populations that have been screened for drought avoidance. By using several populations assessed for drought avoidance in different sites, the distribution and utility of QTLs for drought avoidance in rice is being elucidated.

Molecular profiling of an interspecific rice population derived from a cross between WAB 56-104 (Oryza sativa) and CG 14 (Oryza glaberrima)

NERICA rices are interspecific inbred progeny derived from crosses between Oryza sativa × O. glaberrima. In this study, we evaluated 70 BC2 interspecific lines, developed by crossing a tropical japonica variety (WAB 56-104) as the recurrent parent to an O. glaberrima variety (CG 14) as the donor parent, followed by the use of anther culture to derive doubled haploids (DH) (26 lines) or eight generations of inbreeding to fix the lines (44 lines). Seven of these BC2 derived inbred lines have been released as NERICA 1-NERICA 7. This study examined the relative contribution of each parent and the extent of genetic differences among these 70 sister lines using 130 well-distributed microsatellite markers which cover 1725 cM of the rice genome. The average proportion of O. sativa recurrent parent genome was 87.4% (1,508 cM), while the observed average proportion of O. glaberrima donor genome was 6.3% (108 cM). Non-parental alleles were detected in 83% of the lines and contributed an average of 38 cM per line (~2.2% of genomic DNA). Lines that had undergone eight generations of inbreeding in the field contained significantly more non-parental alleles (av. 2.7%) compared to the DH lines (av. 1.3%) that were developed from BC2 anthers. Using both cluster and principal component analyses, two major groups were detected in these materials. The NERICA varieties (NERICA 1 to 7) clustered in one group while the remaining 63 lines clustered in another group, suggesting that the second group may offer significant opportunities for further selection and variety development.

Grain protein content of interspecific progenies derived from the cross of African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) and Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Abstract The protein contents of the grain of 50 interspecific progenies developed from the cross between WAB56-104, an Oryza sativa variety, and CG 14, an Oryza glaberrima line, were investigated. In contrast to the higher protein content of O. glaberrima than O. sativa on the average, the protein content of CG 14 was always lower than that of WAB56-104. However, judging from the average of three seasons, 72% of the interspecific progenies had a higher protein content than the mid-parent and 50% of them had a higher protein content than WAB56-104. Although the actual values of protein content of the interspecific progenies were significantly different among the seasons, a highly significant correlation was always observed in protein content between any two of the three seasons. Protein content therefore was considered character of each interspecific progeny though it was also affected by environment. A significant correlation was not observed between paddy yield and protein content in any season; several interspecific progenies showed higher protein content and paddy yield than the mid-parents. A low paddy yield is likely to be associated with high protein content through physiological regulation without a genetic linkage between the two traits. However, the results suggest that the transgressive segregation of protein content observed in the interspecific progenies is attributed not to this physiological regulation but to a certain mechanism to concentrate protein in grains with a genetic background.

Inheritance and mapping of male sterility restoration gene in upland japonica restorer lines

Several upland Japonica breeding lines, WAB450-11-1-3-P40-HB (Abbreviated as WAB450-11), WAB450-11-1-2-P61-HB (WAB450-13), WAB450-l-B-P-91-HB (WAB450-14), IRAT216, IRAT359, and IRAT104, possessing restoring ability for the Dian 1 type cms (cms-D) line Dianyu 1A were recently identified at Food Crops Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, P. R. China. In this study, the inheritance of restoring ability in these lines was characterized through the production of backcross populations to the male-sterile and maintainer Dianyu 1 lines. Each of the restorer lines was used to pollinate Dianyu 1A to form a F1 hybrid which was then backcrossed (1) with Dianyu 1B producing a BC1F1 population and (2) to the female parent Dianyu 1A producing a BC5F2 population. The lines were also crossed with the japonica restorer line C57, carrying the restorer gene Rf1 that was introgressed from indica, to form F1 hybrids, these hybrids were then testcrossed with Dianyu 1A to study the allelic relationship of their restorer genes to Rf1. The inheritance in these testcross populations indicated that the complete restoring ability of WAB450-11, WAB450-13, WAB450-14, IRAT216, IRAT359, and the partial restoring ability of IRAT104 were controlled by dominant genes, and the gene in WAB450-13, WAB450-14, and IRAT216 was allelic or identical to Rf1. When 136 SSR markers were used to score 143 BC1F1 individuals from Dianyu 1A/WAB450-13//Dianyu 1B, the japonica Rf1 allele was found to be located between RM171 and RM6100 on the long arm of chromosome 10, an interval corresponding to that known for the indica Rf1 allele. The distance between RM171 and Rf1 is 2.8 cM, and that between Rf1 and RM6100 is 4.9 cM. Similar linkage results were obtained from mapping 89 individuals of the corresponding BC5F2 population (Dianyu 1A/6/Dianyu 1A/WAB450-13).

アフリカイネ(Oryza glaberrima Steud.)・アジアイネ(O. sativa L.)種間交雑後代のブラベンダービスコグラム特性

Fertile interspecific progenies from the cross of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian rice (O. sativa) were developed by WARDA. We evaluated their starch characteristics in comparison with African rice and Asian rice to disseminate them to West African farmers. The frequency distribution of amylose content in African rice had a higher average value and narrower range than those of Asian rice. Amylose content of the interspecifics was just 1.4% lower than that of African rice in average. However, its frequency distribution in the interspecifics widely ranged beyond the values of their parents, especially toward the direction for low amylose content. The frequency distribution of viscosity characteristics by Brabender viscogram (viscosity) in the interspecifics was different from that expected from their amylose content and it corresponded to stickier rice texture. The amylose content had much more dominant effects on viscosity than protein content. African rice had some factor making rice texture more rigid, whereas the interspecifics had another factor making it a little bit stickier. Such factors specified by rice species affected viscosity less than amylose content but more than protein content. Since protein content had small influence on viscosity and variation of viscosity in the interspecifics was quite large, it could be possible to select high protein lines with medium texture generally accepted by West African people from the existing interspecifics. (Received Sep. 19, 2001; Accepted Dec. 6, 2001)

Rapid generation and improvement of salt tolerance in photoperiod sensitive mangrove swamp rice varieties and breeding lines

Abstract A breeding procedure that greatly improves salt tolerance and the handling and rapid generation of photoperiod sensitive rice varieties which can be tested once a year under field conditions was studied. By shortening day length for 2 weeks after 6 weeks of growth, the plants were induced to flower within 2–4 weeks. This allows up to four generations to be produced in a year. A new breeding procedure involving photoperiod sensitive mangrove swamp rice varieties was therefore proposed as follows: (1) growing F 2 to F 4 under short days and dense spacing in the screenhouse, (2) growing F 5 to F 7 under natural saline mangrove swamp conditions and selecting for nearly fixed suitable morphological types. Salt tolerant individuals were selected by exposing the plants to 60 mM NaCl solution for 2 weeks before subjecting them to short days during the F 2 to F 4 generations. Mean salt tolerance increased with generation.