Water temperatures during vegetative growth affect cold tolerance at the booting stage of rice under controlled environmental conditions

• Published in: Journal of Agricultural Meteorology Vol. 68; no. 2; pp. 159 - 164
• Main Authors: MATSUMURA, Hisakazu, SUZUKI, Kensaku, SHIMONO, Hiroyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Society of Agricultural Meteorology of Japan 01.01.2012; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Chilling injury; Cold tolerance; Grain yield; Rice; Spikelet sterility
• ISSN: 0021-8588; 1881-0136
• DOI: 10.2480/agrmet.68.2.5

We tested the effect of water temperature (Tw) during vegetative growth on the cold tolerance of rice under fully controlled environmental conditions. We grew seedlings of the rice cultivar ‘Hayayuki’ in a growth chamber, and at the four-leaf stage exposed some of the seedlings to Tw of 18°C (low Tw treatment) for 14 days, and the rest to Tw of 23°C (control). At the booting stage, plants were subjected to low air temperature (12°C for 4 or 5 days) in another growth chamber to induce spikelet sterility. Palea length, which is an indicator of the pollen developmental stage, increased linearly with increasing auricle distance, and there was no difference in this relationship between treatments. Spikelet sterility was significantly higher in plants exposed to low Tw during vegetative growth. These results suggest that Tw during vegetative growth affects the degree of physiological cold tolerance of rice during the booting stage.