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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #299524
Title: Calcium may help decrease rice straighthead in a silt loam soil

Author
item ZHOU, WEI - University Of Arkansas At Pine Bluff
item XIONG, HAIZHENG - University Of Arkansas
item Yan, Wengui
item NTAMATUNGIRO, SIXTE - University Of Arkansas At Pine Bluff
item HUANG, BIHU - University Of Arkansas At Pine Bluff

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/5/2013
Publication Date: 11/3/2013
Citation: Zhou, W., Xiong, H., Yan, W., Ntamatungiro, S., Huang, B. 2013. Calcium may help decrease rice straighthead in a silt loam soil. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Paper number: 80870. Poster number: 603. Available: https://scisoc.confex.com/crops/2013am/webprogram/Paper80870.html

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Straighthead is a physiological disease in rice which causes blanking of the panicle and can result in complete yield loss. Using the US cultivar Cocodrie and three breeding lines, 8-18, 8-9 and 12-38, we tested the effect of Calcium (Ca) application on straighthead symptoms in the greenhouse. Three plants were grown in a pot (22 cm tall and 22 cm diameter) containing silt loam soil from a field site known to frequently cause natural symptoms of straighthead. Four Ca treatments were applied to each of three pots for each genotype, 297g Ca (Calcium carbonate) at vegetative stage (V-Ca), 535g Ca at booting stage (B-Ca), and V-Ca plus B-Ca (VB-Ca). During the growth of the plants, variation in straighthead symptoms including sterile and deformed grains and panicles were observed due to Ca treatments and genotypes. At maturity, 5 representative panicles were harvested from each pot to score seed set (%) as a measure of straighthead. ANOVA analysis based on the seed set showed highly significant variation (p<0.0001) for genotype, Ca treatment, and their interaction. Cocodrie was mostly susceptible with an average seed set of 19.02%, while line 8-9 was mostly resistant with a seed set of 80.30%. The pair-wise differences of seed set among the 4 genotypes were all significant. VB-Ca resulted in the highest seed set of 70.45% which was significantly higher than V-Ca of 47.59% and B-Ca of 45.58%. The check with no Ca treatment had the lowest seed set of 31.12% which was significantly lower than any one of Ca treatments. For the straighthead susceptible genotypes, Cocodrie and 8-18, had almost no seed set (1.00 and 8.90%, respectively) under the check soil conditions whereas VB-Ca recovered Cocodrie to 52.16% and 8-18 to 61.76% seed set. The resistant genotypes, 8-9 and 12-38, which had 63.50 and 68.97% seed set, respectively, under check soil conditions. However, VB-Ca increased their seed set up to 89.96 and 74.28%, respectively. Our results suggest that Ca may help reduce straighthead symptoms by increasing rice seed set.