Bush bean, long bean, mung bean, and winged bean plants were grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 2, 4, and 6 g N m(-2) preceding rice planting. Concurrently, rice was grown with N fertilizer at rates of 0, 4, 8, and 12 g N m(-2). No chemical fertilizer was used in the 2nd year of crop to estimate the nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE), N uptake, and rice yield when legume crops were grown in rotation with rice. Rice after winged bean grown with N at the rate of 4 g N m(-2) achieved significantly higher NRE, NAE, and N uptake in both years. Rice after winged bean grown without N fertilizer produced 13-23% higher grain yield than rice after fallow rotation with 8 g N m(-2). The results revealed that rice after winged bean without fertilizer and rice after long bean with N fertilizer at the rate of 4 g N m(-2) can produce rice yield equivalent to that of rice after fallow with N fertilizer at rates of 8 g N m(-2). The NAE, NRE, and harvest index values for rice after winged bean or other legume crop rotation indicated a positive response for rice production without deteriorating soil fertility.
Germination is a key process in plants' phenological cycles. Accelerating this process could lead to improvment of the seedling growth as well as the cultivation efficiency. To achieve this, the effect of microwave frequency on the germination of rice seeds was examined. The physiological feedbacks of the MR 219 rice variety in terms of seed germination rate (GR), germination percentage (GP), and mean germination time (MGT) were analyzed by exposing its seeds to 2450 MHz of microwave frequency for one, four, seven, and ten hours. It was revealed that exposing the seeds to the microwave frequency for 10 hours resulted in the highest GP. This treatment led to 100% of germination after three days with a mean germination time of 2.1 days. Although the other exposure times of microwave frequency caused the moderate effects on germination with a GP(a3) ranged from 93% to 98%, they failed to reduce the MGT(a3). The results showed that ten-hour exposure times of microwave frequency for six days significantly facilitated and improved the germination indices (primary shoot and root length). Therefore, the technique is expected to benefit the improvement of rice seed germination considering its simplicity and efficacy in increasing the germination percentage and rate as well as the primary shoot and root length without causing any environmental toxicity.
A moisture detection of single rice grains using a slim and small open-ended coaxial probe is presented. The coaxial probe is suitable for the nondestructive measurement of moisture values in the rice grains ranging from from 9.5% to 26%. Empirical polynomial models are developed to predict the gravimetric moisture content of rice based on measured reflection coefficients using a vector network analyzer. The relationship between the reflection coefficient and relative permittivity were also created using a regression method and expressed in a polynomial model, whose model coefficients were obtained by fitting the data from Finite Element-based simulation. Besides, the designed single rice grain sample holder and experimental set-up were shown. The measurement of single rice grains in this study is more precise compared to the measurement in conventional bulk rice grains, as the random air gap present in the bulk rice grains is excluded.
Rice production is decreasing by abiotic stresses like heavy metals. In such circumstances, producing food for growing human population is a challenge for plant breeders. Excess of Al3+ in soil has become threat for high yield of rice. Improvement of crop is one of potential solution for high production. The aim of this study was to develop the new method for optimization of Al3+ toxicity tolerance in indica rice at germination stag using two-way ANOVA and Duncan's multiple-range test (DMRT). Seeds of two indica rice cultivars (Pokkali and Pak Basmati) were exposed in different concentrations (control, 5 mM, 15 mM, and 20 mM) of Al3+ toxicity at pH 4 ±0.2 for two weeks. Germination traits such as final germination percentage (FG%), germination energy (GE), germination speed (GS), germination index (GI), mean time of germination (MGT), germination value (GV), germination velocity (GVe), peak value of germination (GPV), and germination capacity (GC) and growth traits such as root length (RL), shoot length (SL), total dry biomass (TDB), and germination vigour index (GVI) were measured. To obtain the maximum number of significance (≤ 0.01%) parameters in each concentration of Al3+ toxicity with control, two-way ANOVA was established and comparison of mean was done using DMRT. The results showed that 5 mM, 10 mM, and 15 mM have less significant effects on the above-mentioned parameters. However, 20 mM concentration of Al3+ produced significant effects (≤ 0.01%). Therefore, 20 mM of Al3+ is considered optimized limit for indica cultivars (Pokkali and Pak Basmati).
As a semi-aquatic plant, rice requires water for proper growth, development, and orientation of physiological processes. Stress is induced at the cellular and molecular level when rice is exposed to drought or periods of low water availability. Plants have existing defense mechanisms in planta that respond to stress. In this review we examine the role played by miRNAs in the regulation and control of drought stress in rice through a summary of molecular studies conducted on miRNAs with emphasis on their contribution to drought regulatory networks in comparison to other plant systems. The interaction between miRNAs, target genes, transcription factors and their respective roles in drought-induced stresses is elaborated. The cross talk involved in controlling drought stress responses through the up and down regulation of targets encoding regulatory and functional proteins is highlighted. The information contained herein can further be explored to identify targets for crop improvement in the future.
Drought tolerance is an important quantitative trait with multipart phenotypes that are often further complicated by plant phenology. Different types of environmental stresses, such as high irradiance, high temperatures, nutrient deficiencies, and toxicities, may challenge crops simultaneously; therefore, breeding for drought tolerance is very complicated. Interdisciplinary researchers have been attempting to dissect and comprehend the mechanisms of plant tolerance to drought stress using various methods; however, the limited success of molecular breeding and physiological approaches suggests that we rethink our strategies. Recent genetic techniques and genomics tools coupled with advances in breeding methodologies and precise phenotyping will likely reveal candidate genes and metabolic pathways underlying drought tolerance in crops. The WRKY transcription factors are involved in different biological processes in plant development. This zinc (Zn) finger protein family, particularly members that respond to and mediate stress responses, is exclusively found in plants. A total of 89 WRKY genes in japonica and 97 WRKY genes in O. nivara (OnWRKY) have been identified and mapped onto individual chromosomes. To increase the drought tolerance of rice (Oryza sativa L.), research programs should address the problem using a multidisciplinary strategy, including the interaction of plant phenology and multiple stresses, and the combination of drought tolerance traits with different genetic and genomics approaches, such as microarrays, quantitative trait loci (QTLs), WRKY gene family members with roles in drought tolerance, and transgenic crops. This review discusses the newest advances in plant physiology for the exact phenotyping of plant responses to drought to update methods of analysing drought tolerance in rice. Finally, based on the physiological/morphological and molecular mechanisms found in resistant parent lines, a strategy is suggested to select a particular environment and adapt suitable germplasm to that environment.
The experiment was conducted to investigate potential causes of grain sterility in widely cultivated rice variety in Malaysia, MR219 and its two mutant lines (RM311 and RM109) by examining the source-sink relations. RM311 produced increased dry matter yield both at heading and maturity and also showed higher grain yield with greater proportion of grain sterility than the other two genotypes (RM109 and MR219) resulting in the lowest harvest index (49.68%). In contrast, harvest index was greater in RM109 (53.34%) and MR219 (52.76%) with less grain sterility percentage than MR311 indicating that dry matter partitioning to economic yield was better in RM109 and MR219 than in MR311. Results indicated that dry matter allocation per spikelet from heading to maturity was important for reducing grain sterility in rice. The greater above-ground crop dry matter per spikelet was observed in RM109 and MR219 as compared to high dry matter producing genotype; RM311 implies that poor grain filling may not have resulted from dry matter production or source limitation. These findings suggest that grain sterility or poor grain filling in rice is the result of poor translocation and partitioning of assimilates into grains (sink) rather than of limited biomass production or source limitation.
Experiments were conducted to identify blast-resistant fragrant genotypes for the development of a durable blast-resistant rice variety during years 2012-2013. The results indicate that out of 140 test materials including 114 fragrant germplasms, 25 differential varieties (DVs) harbouring 23 blast-resistant genes, only 16 fragrant rice germplasms showed comparatively better performance against a virulent isolate of blast disease. The reaction pattern of single-spore isolate of Magnaporthe oryzae to differential varieties showed that Pish, Pi9, Pita-2 and Pita are the effective blast-resistant genes against the tested blast isolates in Bangladesh. The DNA markers profiles of selected 16 rice germplasms indicated that genotype Chinigura contained Pish, Pi9 and Pita genes; on the other hand, both BRRI dhan50 and Bawaibhog contained Pish and Pita genes in their genetic background. Genotypes Jirakatari, BR5, and Gopalbhog possessed Pish gene, while Uknimodhu, Deshikatari, Radhunipagol, Kalijira (3), Chinikanai each contained the Pita gene only. There are some materials that did not contain any target gene(s) in their genetic background, but proved resistant in pathogenicity tests. This information provided valuable genetic information for breeders to develop durable blast-resistant fragrant or aromatic rice varieties in Bangladesh.
Heavy ion beam, which has emerged as a new mutagen in the mutation breeding of crops and ornamental plants, is expected to result in the induction of novel mutations. This study investigates the morphological and biochemical responses of Oryza sativa toward different doses of carbon ion beam irradiation.
It is imperative that there be a diet designed specifically to improve lipid profile in order to impede the progress of atherosclerosis. Because rice is a staple food in Asia, it will be chosen as the diet of interest. This study sets out to discover whether consumption of different processed rice diets may result in a change of the lipid profile. The experiment was done on male New Zealand white rabbits after 10 weeks of treatment with diet containing 0.5% cholesterol. The experimental diets include white rice (WR), brown rice (BR), and germinated brown rice (GBR). Among them, rabbits fed a GBR diet demonstrated significantly lower levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), LDL/HDL, and atherogenic index (AI) and a higher level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Results from atherosclerotic plaque assessment further support the findings. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA), which acts as an indicator for oxidative stress, was also reduced by GBR diet. The positive change in lipid profile in the rabbits fed GBR appeared to correspond with the higher amounts of γ-oryzanol, tocopherol, and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content.
The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is a serious pathogen that jeopardises the world's most important food-security crop. Ten common Malaysian rice varieties were examined for their morphological, physiological and genomic responses to this rice blast pathogen. qPCR quantification was used to assess the growth of the pathogen population in resistant and susceptible rice varieties. The chlorophyll content and photosynthesis were also measured to further understand the disruptive effects that M. oryzae has on infected plants of these varieties. Real-time PCR was used to explore the differential expression of eight blast resistance genes among the ten local varieties. Blast disease has destructive effects on the growth of rice, and the findings of our study provide evidence that the Pikh, Pi9, Pi21, and Osw45 genes are involved in defence responses in the leaves of Malaysian rice at 31 h after inoculation with M. oryzae pathotype P7.2. Both the chlorophyll content and photosynthesis were reduced, but the levels of Pikh gene expression remained constant in susceptible varieties, with a developed pathogen population and mild or severe symptoms. The Pi9, Pi21, and Osw45 genes, however, were simultaneously upregulated in infected rice plants. Therefore, the presence of the Pikh, Pi9, Pi21, and Osw45 genes in the germplasm is useful for improving the resistance of rice varieties.
In this study, we characterized, identified, and determined the effect of salt-tolerant PGPR isolated from coastal saline areas on rice growth and yield. A total of 44 bacterial strains were isolated, and 5 were found to be tolerant at high salt concentration. These isolates were further characterized for salinity tolerance and beneficial traits through a series of quantitative tests. Biochemical characterization showed that bacterial survivability decreases gradually with the increase of salt concentration. One of the strains, UPMRB9, produced the highest amount of exopolysaccharides when exposed to 1.5M of NaCl. Moreover, UPMRB9 absorbed the highest amount of sodium from the 1.5M of NaCl-amended media. The highest floc yield and biofilm were produced by UPMRE6 and UPMRB9 respectively, at 1M of NaCl concentration. The SEM observation confirmed the EPS production of UPMRB9 and UPMRE6 at 1.5M of NaCl concentration. These two isolates were identified as Bacillus tequilensis and Bacillus aryabhattai based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence. The functional group characterization of EPS showed the presence of hydroxyl, carboxyl, and amino groups. This corresponded to the presence of carbohydrates and proteins in the EPS and glucose was identified as the major type of carbohydrate. The functional groups of EPS can help to bind and chelate Na+ in the soil and thereby reduces the plant's exposure to the ion under saline conditions. The plant inoculation study revealed significant beneficial effects of bacterial inoculation on photosynthesis, transpiration, and stomatal conductance of the plant which leads to a higher yield. The Bacillus tequilensis and Bacillus aryabhattai strains showed good potential as PGPR for salinity mitigation practice for coastal rice cultivation.
The small genome size of rice relative to wheat and barley, together with its salt sensitivity, make it an ideal candidate for studies of salt stress response. Transcriptomics has emerged as a powerful technique to study salinity responses in many crop species. By identifying a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) simultaneously after the stress induction, it can provide crucial insight into the immediate responses towards the stressor. In this study, a Malaysian salt-tolerant indigenous rice variety named Bajong and one commercial rice variety named MR219 were investigated for their performance in plant growth and ion accumulation properties after salt stress treatment. Bajong was further investigated for the changes in leaf's transcriptome after 6 h of stress treatment using 100 mM NaCl. Based on the results obtained, Bajong is found to be significantly more salt tolerant than MR219, showing better growth and a lower sodium ion accumulation after the stress treatment. Additionally, Bajong was analysed by transcriptomic sequencing, generating a total of 130 millions reads. The reads were assembled into de novo transcriptome and each transcript was annotated using several pre-existing databases. The transcriptomes of control and salt-stressed samples were then compared, leading to the discovery of 4096 DEGs. Based on the functional annotation results obtained, the enrichment factor of each functional group in DEGs was calculated in relation to the total reads obtained. It was found that the group with the highest gene modulation was involved in the secondary metabolite biosynthesis of plants, with approximately 2.5% increase in relation to the total reads obtained. This suggests an extensive transcriptional reprogramming of the secondary metabolic pathways after stress induction, which could be directly responsible for the salt tolerance capability of Bajong.
Transgenic technologies have been applied to a wide range of biological research. However, information on the potential epigenetic effects of transgenic technology is still lacking. Here, we show that the transgenic process can simultaneously induce both genetic and epigenetic changes in rice. We analyzed genetic, epigenetic, and phenotypic changes in plants subjected to tissue culture regeneration, using transgenic lines expressing the same coding sequence from two different promoters in transgenic lines of two rice cultivars: Wuyunjing7 (WYJ7) and Nipponbare (NP). We determined the expression of OsNAR2.1 in two overexpression lines generated from the two cultivars, and in the RNA interference (RNAi) OsNAR2.1 line in NP. DNA methylation analyses were performed on wild-type cultivars (WYJ7 and NP), regenerated lines (CK, T0 plants), segregation-derived wild-type from pOsNAR2.1-OsNAR2.1 (SDWT), pOsNAR2.1-OsNAR2.1, pUbi-OsNAR2.1, and RNAi lines. Interestingly, we observed global methylation decreased in the T0 regenerated line of WYJ7 (CK-WJY7) and pOsNAR2.1-OsNAR2.1 lines but increased in pUbi-OsNAR2.1 and RNAi lines of NP. Furthermore, the methylation pattern in SDWT returned to the WYJ7 level after four generations. Phenotypic changes were detected in all the generated lines except for SDWT. Global methylation was found to decrease by 13% in pOsNAR2.1-OsNAR2.1 with an increase in plant height of 4.69% compared with WYJ7, and increased by 18% in pUbi-OsNAR2.1 with an increase of 17.36% in plant height compared with NP. This suggests an absence of a necessary link between global methylation and the phenotype of transgenic plants with OsNAR2.1 gene over-expression. However, epigenetic changes can influence phenotype during tissue culture, as seen in the massive methylation in CK-WYJ7, T0 regenerated lines, resulting in decreased plant height compared with the wild-type, in the absence of a transformed gene. We conclude that in the transgenic lines the phenotype is mainly determined by the nature and function of the transgene after four generations of transformation, while the global epigenetic modification is dependent on the genetic background. Our research suggests an innovative insight in explaining the reason behind the occurrence of transgenic plants with random and undesirable phenotypes.
Drought is the leading threat to agricultural food production, especially in the cultivation of rice, a semi-aquatic plant. Drought tolerance is a complex quantitative trait with a complicated phenotype that affects different developmental stages in plants. The level of susceptibility or tolerance of rice to several drought conditions is coordinated by the action of different drought-responsive genes in relation with other stress components which stimulate signal transduction pathways. Interdisciplinary researchers have broken the complex mechanism of plant tolerance using various methods such as genetic engineering or marker-assisted selection to develop a new cultivar with improved drought resistance. The main objectives of this review were to highlight the current method of developing a durable drought-resistant rice variety through conventional breeding and the use of biotechnological tools and to comprehensively review the available information on drought-resistant genes, QTL analysis, gene transformation and marker-assisted selection. The response, indicators, causes, and adaptation processes to the drought stress were discussed in the review. Overall, this review provides a systemic glimpse of breeding methods from conventional to the latest innovation in molecular development of drought-tolerant rice variety. This information could serve as guidance for researchers and rice breeders.
An investigation was made to see the salt tolerance of 10 weed species of rice. Properly dried and treated seeds of weed species were placed on 9 cm diameter petridishes lined with Whatman No. 1 filter paper under 6 salinity regimes, viz. 0 (control), 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 dS m(-1). The petri dishes were then kept in germinator at 25 +/- 1.0 degrees C and 12 hr light. The number of germinated seeds were recorded daily. The final germination percentage, germination index (GI), seedling vigour index, mean germination time and time for 50% germination were estimated. Root and shoot lengths of the weed seedlings were measured at 20 days after salt application and relative growth values were calculated. Results revealed that salinity decreased final germination percentage, seed of germination as measured by GI, and shoot and root length in all the species. Germination of most of the weed seeds was completely arrested (0) at 32 dS m(-1) salinity except in E. colona (12%) and C. iria (13.9%). The species C. iria, E. colona, J. linifolia and E. crusgalli showed better germination (above 30%) upto 24 dS m(-1) salinity level and were regarded as salt-tolerant weed species. J. linifolia, F. miliacea, L. chinensis and O. sativa L. (weedy rice) were graded as moderately tolerant and S. zeylanica, S. grosus and C. difformis were regarded as least tolerant weed species.
Salinity threat is estimated to reduce global rice production by 50%. Comprehensive analysis of the physiological and metabolite changes in rice plants from salinity stress (i.e. tolerant versus susceptible plants) is important to combat higher salinity conditions. In this study, we screened a total of 92 genotypes and selected the most salinity tolerant line (SS1-14) and most susceptible line (SS2-18) to conduct comparative physiological and metabolome inspections. We demonstrated that the tolerant line managed to maintain their water and chlorophyll content with lower incidence of sodium ion accumulation. We also examined the antioxidant activities of these lines: production of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) were significantly higher in the sensitive line while superoxide dismutase (SOD) was higher in the tolerant line. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots show significantly different response for both lines after the exposure to salinity stress. In the tolerant line, there was an upregulation of non-polar metabolites and production of sucrose, GABA and acetic acid, suggesting an important role in salinity adaptation. In contrast, glutamine and putrescine were noticeably high in the susceptible rice. Coordination of different strategies in tolerant and susceptible lines show that they responded differently after exposure to salt stress. These findings can assist crop development in terms of developing tolerance mechanisms for rice crops.
An efficient in vitro plant regeneration system was established for elite, recalcitrant Malaysian indica rice, Oryza sativa L. CV. MR 219 using mature seeds as explant on Murashige and Skoog and Chu N6 media containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and kinetin either alone or in different combinations. L-proline, casein hydrolysate and L-glutamine were added to callus induction media for enhancement of embryogenic callus induction. The highest frequency of friable callus induction (84%) was observed in N6 medium containing 2.5 mg l(-1) 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, 0.2 mg l(-1) kinetin, 2.5 mg l(-1) L-proline, 300 mg l(-1) casein hydrolysate, 20 mg l(-1) L-glutamine and 30 g l(-1) sucrose under culture in continuous lighting conditions. The maximum regeneration frequency (71%) was observed, when 30-day-old N6 friable calli were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 3 mg l(-1) 6-benzyl aminopurine, 1 mg l(-1) naphthalene acetic acid, 2.5 mg l(-1) L-proline, 300 mg l(-1) casein hydrolysate and 3% maltose. Developed shoots were rooted in half strength MS medium supplemented with 2% sucrose and were successfully transplanted to soil with 95% survival. This protocol may be used for other recalcitrant indica rice genotypes and to transfer desirable genes in to Malaysian indica rice cultivar MR219 for crop improvement.
Growth and productivity of rice are negatively affected by soil salinity. However, some salt-tolerant rhizosphere-inhabiting bacteria can improve salt resistance of plants, thereby augmenting plant growth and production. Here, we isolated a total of 53 plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from saline and non-saline areas in Bangladesh where electrical conductivity was measured as >7.45 and <1.80 dS/m, respectively. Bacteria isolated from saline areas were able to grow in a salt concentration of up to 2.60 mol/L, contrary to the isolates collected from non-saline areas that did not survive beyond 854 mmol/L. Among the salt-tolerant isolates, Bacillus aryabhattai, Achromobacter denitrificans, and Ochrobactrum intermedium, identified by comparing respective sequences of 16S rRNA using the NCBI GenBank, exhibited a higher amount of atmospheric nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and indoleacetic acid production at 200 mmol/L salt stress. Salt-tolerant isolates exhibited greater resistance to heavy metals and antibiotics, which could be due to the production of an exopolysaccharide layer outside the cell surface. Oryza sativa L. fertilized with B. aryabhattai MS3 and grown under 200 mmol/L salt stress was found to be favoured by enhanced expression of a set of at least four salt-responsive plant genes: BZ8, SOS1, GIG, and NHX1. Fertilization of rice with osmoprotectant-producing PGPR, therefore, could be a climate-change-preparedness strategy for coastal agriculture.