Abstract
Root penetration ability is an important factor for rice drought resistance in areas with soils subject to both compaction and periodic water deficits. However, breeding for root penetration ability is inhibited by the difficulties associated with measuring root traits. Our objective was to identify restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) associated with root penetration ability. Using wax-petrolatum layers as a proxy for compacted soil, we counted the number of vertical root axes penetrating through the layer, the total number of vertical root axes and the number of tillers per plant of 202 recombinant inbred (RI) lines over three replications. As a measure of root penetration ability, we used a root penetration index defined as the percent of the total number of vertical root axes that penetrated through a wax-petrolatum layer. The RI population exhibited a wide range in the number of penetrating roots axes (10–115 roots), the total number of roots axes (74–226 roots), tillers per plant (6–18), and in the root penetration index (0.11–0.71). Single-marker and interval quantitative trait analyses were conducted to identify RFLP loci associated with the number of penetrating roots, total root number, root penetration index, and tiller number. Four quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were associated with the number of penetrated roots, 19 with the total root number, six QTLs with the root penetration index and ten with tiller number. Individually, these QTLs accounted for a maximum of 8% of the variation in the number of penetrating roots, 19% of the variation in total root number, 13% of the variation in root penetration index and 14% of the variation in tiller number as estimated from regressions. The multimarker regression model accounting for the greatest proportion of the variation in the root penetration index was a three-marker model that accounted for 34% of the variation. Two-marker models accounted for 13% of the variation in the number of penetrated roots, 25% of the variation in total root number, and 21% of the variation in tiller number. This is the first research paper to apply RFLP quantitative trait analysis to dissect genetic loci associated with the total number of roots, root penetration ability and tiller number.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asseed AM, McGowan M, Hebblethwaite PD, Brereton JC (1990) Effect of soil compaction on growth, yield and light interception of selected crops. Ann Appl Biol 117:653–666
Atwell BJ (1993) Response of roots to mechanical impedance. Environ Exp Bot 33:27–40
Bengough AG, Mullins CE (1990) Mechanical impedance to root growth: a review of experimental techniques and root growth responses. J Soil Sci 41:341–358
Champoux MC, Wang G, Sarkarung S, MacKill DJ, O'Toole JC, Huang N, McCouch SR (1995) Locating genes associated with root morphology and drought avoidance in rice via linkage to molecular markers. Theor Appl Genet 90:969–981
Chang TT, Loresto GC, O'Toole JC Amenta-Soto JL (1982) Strategy and methodology of breeding rice for drought-prone areas. In: Drought resistance in crops with emphasis on rice. IRRI, Manila, pp 217–244
Churchill GA, Doerge RW (1994) Empirical threshold values for quantitative trait mapping. Genetics 138:963–971
Ekanayake IJ, Garrity DP, O'Toole JC (1986) Influence of deep root density on root pulling resistance in rice. Crop Sci 26:1181–1186
Garrity DP, Oldeman LR, Morris RA (1986) Rainfed lowland rice ecosystems: characterization and distribution. In: Progress in rainfed lowland rice. IRRI, Manila, pp 3–23
Gregory PJ (1989) The role of root characteristics in moderating the effects of drought. In: Baker FWG (ed) Drought resistance in cereals. CAB Inter, Wallingford, UK, pp 141–150
Guiderdoni E, Glaszmann JC, Courtois B (1989) Segregation of 12 isozyme genes among doubled haploid lines derived from a japonica x indica cross of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Euphytica 42:45–53
Hanson AD, Peacock WJ, Evans LT, Arntzen CJ, Khush GS (1990) Drought resistance in rice. Nature 345:26–27
Ikehashi M, Araki H (1986) genetics of F1 sterility in remote crosses of rice In: Rice genetics. IRRI, Manila, pp 119–130
International Rice Research Institute (1982) A plan for IRRI's third decade. P.O. Box 933, Manila, Philippines
Kandasamy S (1981) Response of rice roots to simulated soil compaction with emphasis on water uptake. MS thesis, University of Philippines at Los Banos
Khush GS (1984) Terminology for rice growing environments. In: Terminology for rice growing environments. IRRI, Manila, pp 5–10
Lincoln S, Daly M, Lander E (1992) Mapping genes controlling quantitative traits with MAPMAKER/QTL 1.1. Whitehead Institute Technical Report 2nd edn.
Ludlow MM, Sommer KJ, Flower DJ, Ferraris R, So HB (1989) Influence of root signals resulting from soil dehydration and high soil strength on the growth of crop plants. Curr Top Plant Biochem Physiol 8:81–99
Mambani B, Lal R (1983) Response of upland rice varieties to drought stress. II. Screening rice varieties by means of variable moisture regimes along a toposequence. Plant and Soil 73:73–94
Manly KF (1993) A Macintosh program for storage and analysis of experimental genetic mapping data. Mammalian Genome 4:303–313
Masle J (1992) Genetic variation in the effects of root impedance on the growth and transpiration rates of wheat and barley. Aust J Plant Physiol 19:109–125
Masle J, Passioura JB (1987) The effect of soil strength on the growth of young wheat plants. Aust J Plant Physiol 14:643–656
Materechera SA, Alston AM, Kirby JM, Dexter AR (1992) Influence of root diameter on the penetration of seminal roots into a compacted subsoil. Plant and Soil 144:297–303
Minabe M (1951) Analytical studies on drought damage in rice. II. On the characteristics of the underground parts. Proc Crop Sci Soc Jpn 20:85–92
Nakagahra M (1986) Geographic distribution of gametophyte genes in wide crosses of rice cultivars. In: Rice genetics IRRI, Manila, pp 73–82
Oka HI (1988) Indica-japonica differentiation of rice cultivars. In: Origin of cultivated rice. Japan Sci Soc Press, Tokyo pp 141–179
O'Toole JC (1982) Adaptation of rice to drought prone environments. In: Drought resistance in crops with emphasis on rice. IRRI, Los Baños, Philippines, pp 195–213
O'Toole JC (1989) Breeding for drought resistance in cereals: emerging technologies. In: Baker FWG (ed) Drought resistance in cereals. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, pp 81–94
O'Toole JC, De Datta SK (1986) Drought resistance in rainfed lowland rice. In: Progress in rainfed lowland rice. IRRI, Los Baños, Philippines, pp 145–158
Paterson A, Lander E, Lincoln S, Hewitt J, Peterson S, Tanksley S (1988) Resolution of quantitative traits into Mendelian factors using a complete RFLP linkage map. Nature 335:721–726
Senadhira D, Herrera RM, Roxas JP (1993) Improved lines with the wide compatibility (WC) gene of Moroberekan. Int Rice Res Notes 18:3–4
Thangaraj M, O'Toole JC, De Datta SK (1990) Root response to water stress in rainfed lowland rice. Exp Agric 26:287–296
Tu JC, Tan CS (1991) Effect of soil compaction on growth yield and root rots of white beans in clay loam and sandy loam soil. Soil Biol Biochem 23:233–238
Wang G, MacKill DJ, Bonman JM, McCouch SR, Champoux MC, Nelson RJ (1994) RFLP Mapping of genes conferring complete and partial resistance to blast in a durably resistant rice cultivar. Genetics 136:1421–1434
Xu YB, Shen ZT (1991) Diallel analysis of tiller number at different growth stages in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Theor Appl Genet 83:243–249
Yoshida S, Hasegawa S (1982) The rice root system: its development and function. In: Drought resistance in crops with emphasis on rice. IRRI, Los Baños, Philippines, pp 97–114
Yu L, Ray JD, O'Toole JC, Nguyen HT (1995) Use of wax-petrolatum layers to simulate compacted soil for screening rice (Oryza sativa L.) root penetration ability. Crop Sci 35:684–687
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by G. E. Hart
Contribution from the Department of Plant and Soil Science, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409, USA. Journal Number T-4-385
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ray, J.D., Yu, L., McCouch, S.R. et al. Mapping quantitative trait loci associated with root penetration ability in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Theoret. Appl. Genetics 92, 627–636 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00226082
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00226082