Reynaldo Rodriguez

Genotypic Variation in Response of Rainfed Lowland Rice to Prolonged Drought and Rewatering

Abstract Duration of the drought period is important for plant response during drought and after rewatering. We hypothesized that, if drought duration is extended, (1) high seedling vigor and rapid development of a deep root system will not be advantageous, and (2) osmotic adjustment will be more important. Six diverse rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes were selected from rainfed lowland germplasms to examine the development of a deep root system and osmotic adjustment, and their relationship with biomass production during drought and after rewatering, under two different drought durations (shorter and prolonged) in the greenhouse. NSG19 and KDML105 had greater seedling vigor (larger seedling biomass), developed a deep root system earlier in response to drought, extracted soil water more quickly, and their pre-dawn leaf water potential declined more rapidly during the prolonged drought period. These two genotypes showed superior drought recovery even after a prolonged drought period in which they suffered a greater reduction in transpiration, water use efficiency, and biomass production. The superior recovery ability was associated with larger plant size by the end of the drought period rather than with plant water status during drought, such as osmotic adjustment or leaf water potential. Osmotic adjustment was greater during prolonged drought periods (ca. 0.7 MPa) than during shorter drought periods (ca. 0.5 MPa), and lower osmotic adjustment was mostly associated with a higher leaf water potential. Genotypic variation in osmotic adjustment was observed, but there was no clear relationship between osmotic adjustment and biomass production during drought periods. These patterns of response of rice seedlings to drought and rewatering in the greenhouse should help to explain the patterns of adaptation of rainfed lowland rice in the field. Selection for drought recovery ability should be an advantageous strategy for early season drought.

Do abiotic factors cause a gradual yield decline under continuous aerobic rice cultivation? A pot experiment with affected field soils

Abstract Aerobic rice is a water-saving technology in which rice grows in non-puddled and non-saturated (aerobic) soil without ponded water. A gradual decline in rice yield was found in field plots at the farm of the International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines, where rice has been cultivated continuously for 10 cropping seasons under aerobic rice conditions. We investigated whether abiotic soil factors lead to the observed yield decline. An aerobic rice pot experiment was conducted using field soils from flooded rice plots and from the 10-season-long aerobic rice cultivated plots (referred to as 1st-season and 11th-season aerobic rice, respectively). Subtreatments consisted of soil sterilization by oven heating (at 95°C or higher for 24 h) and a control treatment. The above-ground biomass of 1st-season aerobic rice was significantly greater than that of 11th-season aerobic rice in both the oven-heating and control treatments. Oven heating increased soil N availability and above-ground biomass accumulation over the control in both 1st-season and 11th-season aerobic rice, but the above-ground biomass in the oven-heated 11th-season aerobic rice was still significantly lower than that of the oven-heated and even the untreated (control) 1st-season aerobic rice. These results suggest that abiotic factors contribute to the gradual yield decline observed in the field plots.