Simultaneous improvement in cold tolerance and yield of temperate japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) by introgression breeding

• Published in: Plant breeding Vol. 132; no. 6; pp. 604 - 612
• Main Authors: Meng, Lijun, Lin, Xiuyun, Wang, Jinming, Chen, Kai, Cui, Yanru, Xu, Jianlong, Li, Zhikang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2013; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: BC breeding; Cold tolerance; cold tolerance at the reproductive stage; genetic diversity; Oryza sativa; Rice; selection efficiency; Selective breeding
• ISSN: 0179-9541; 1439-0523
• DOI: 10.1111/pbr.12097

To combine high yield and improved cold tolerance (CT) in a japonica rice variety, ‘Chaoyou1’ (CY1), 324 BC2F5 introgression lines (ILs) selected for CT from 11 CY1 BC2F4 populations were evaluated in replicated experiments for their CT at the reproductive and seedling stages. A mean realized heritability of 0.747 was achieved in this study for CT. Evaluation of 116 ILs from five BC populations in replicated experiments under stress and normal conditions identified 18 promising ILs that had greatly improved CT and yield compared with CY1. Detailed comparisons between the ILs and CY1 for CT and yield‐related traits under stress and non‐stress conditions provided useful information and better understanding of important issues such as donor selection, selection efficiency and associated changes in non‐target traits in the BC breeding process. The large numbers of CT ILs developed provide useful materials for genetic, physiological and molecular dissection of CT and yield traits using DNA markers and ‐omic tools, and as parents for further improving these traits by designed QTL pyramiding.