Improvement of lodging resistance with QTLs for stem diameter in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Varietal differences among ten rice cultivars showed that stem diameter is a key factor in lodging resistance (measured in terms of pushing resistance). Two near-isogenic lines (NILs) were selected from a series of chromosome segment substitution lines developed between cultivars Nipponbar and Kasalath, one containing a single stem diameter QTL (sdm8; NIL114), and another with four stem diameter QTLs (sdm1, sdm7, sdm8, sdm12; NIL28). Compared with the Nipponbare control, stem diameters were larger in NIL114 and NIL28 by about 7 and 39%, respectively. Pushing resistance in NIL28 was significantly greater than in Nipponbare, but NIL114 was similar to Nipponbare. The two NILs had greater weight of lower stem and culm wall thickness than Nipponbare. NIL28 had higher plant height, which is a negative effect on lodging resistance, than Nipponbare. The non-structural carbohydrate contents of NIL stems were higher than that of Nipponbare, whereas the silicon contents were lower in the NILs, and cellulose contents were lower only in NIL28. The basal internodes of the two NILs were significantly stiffer than those of Nipponbare. These results suggest that increasing stem diameter in rice breeding programs would improve lodging resistance, although the combination of multiple QTLs would be necessary to produce thicker stems with higher pushing resistance, whereas the higher plant height could also result from the combination of multiple QTLs.

Short communication. Assessing lodging resistance in rice: A comparison of two indirect testing methods

“…According to Aliaga et al (1986), culm elasticity is correlated with internode length, but not with culm thickness, which is in agreement with the correlation found in this work between tiller angle difference and plant height. However, the lack of correlation between plant height and pulling force might reflect stem characteristics other than length, such as thickness or strength, and matches results obtained by Kashiwagi et al (2008) when studying height and pushing resistance.…”

Genetic Diversity of Farmers’ Varieties of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) with Special Orientation to Lodging Characteristics

“…In contrast, varieties with short stature are resistant to lodging even when fertilized excessively and thus are capable of supporting their own body even if high grain yielding trait is introduced. In cereal crop production, lodging resulting from low mechanical strength severely damages the vascular bundles [8], thereby affecting the transport of water, nutrients and reserves contained in vegetative organs to the developing grain and decreasing grain yield and quality.…”

“…Mechanical strength is largely dependent on the chemical and biochemical components of the cell wall [7][8][9]. Generally, lignin and cellulose, which are the main biochemical components of plant tissues, particularly in the vascular bundles, are closely associated with culm mechanical strength [10].…”

Genetic relationship between lodging and lodging components in barley (Hordeum vulgare) based on unconditional and conditional quantitative trait locus analyses

“…Marker-assisted selection has potential to improve the efficiency of selection for lodging resistance in breeding programs. Thus, QTL studies on the correlation between LD and other traits have been performed in several cereal crops, such as soybean, rice (Kashiwagi et al, 2008;Zhu et al, 2008), wheat Zuber et al, 1999;Börner et al, 2002;Kelbert et al, 2004;Verma et al, 2005), maize (Flint-Garcia et al, 2003), and field pea. However, little information related to barley LD has been reported to date (Sameri et al, 2009).…”