O melhoramento genético para tolerância ao frio é apresentado como estratégia para enfrentar o problema de temperatura baixa no Rio Grande do Sul durante o período de cultivo do arroz irrigado. A ocorrência de temperaturas baixas em outros países é comparada com a situação no sul do Brasil. Os estádios de desenvolvimento da planta mais afetados pela temperatura baixa, as estratégias de seleção disponíveis sob condições controladas e os problemas encontrados para o melhoramento dessa característica são discutidos. Finalmente, estratégias de seleção promissoras baseadas em estudos de Fisiologia e Biotecnologia são apresentadas.

Rice cold tolerance at the germination stage is important in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) where temperatures below 15°C prevent or reduce germination and plant establishment in early sowings. The present study aimed at identifying an adequate method for cold tolerance evaluation of the rice germination stage and at verifying the variability among 24 rice genotypes of different origins. Cold tolerance was evaluated in experiment I, germination under two conditions: 13°C for 28 days and 28°C for seven days, and in experiment II, germination under 28°C for 72 hours, 13°C for 96 hours and again 28°C for 72 hours. In experiment I measured characteristics were germination index, percentage of seeds with coleoptile length superior to 5 mm and percentage of reduction in coleoptile length due to cold. In experiment II the measured characteristic was coleoptile regrowth after the cold period. Cold tolerance varied among genotypes studied in both experiments, but only the percentage of reduction in coleoptile length and coleoptile regrowth allowed a better distinction between the tolerant checks and the susceptible one. In general, genotypes belonging to the Japonica subspecies presented higher cold tolerance than Indica, but there was variability within subspecies. The most adequate method of evaluation of cold tolerance is through percentage of reduction in coleoptile length and coleoptile regrowth. Among Japonica genotypes, Quilla 64117 and Diamante presented the highest cold tolerance, and among Indica, cultivars BR-IRGA 410 and IRGA 416 were the most cold tolerant at the germination stage. Key words: Oryza sativa L., low temperature, variability, Indica and Japonica subspecies TOLERÂNCIA AO FRIO NO ESTÁDIO DE GERMINAÇÃO EM ARROZ: MÉTODOS DE AVALIAÇÃO E CARACTERIZAÇÃO DE GENÓTIPOSRESUMO: A tolerância ao frio em arroz no estádio de germinação é importante no Rio Grande do Sul (RS) onde temperaturas abaixo de 15°C impedem ou reduzem a germinação e o estabelecimento das plantas em semeaduras precoces. O presente trabalho teve por objetivos identificar uma metodologia adequada para avaliação da tolerância ao frio na germinação em arroz e verificar a variabilidade existente entre 24 genótipos de arroz de diferentes origens. A tolerância ao frio foi avaliada em dois experimentos: experimento I, com germinação sob duas condições: 13°C por 28 dias e 28°C por sete dias, e experimento II, com germinação a 28°C por 72 horas, 13°C por 96 horas e novamente a 28°C por 72 horas. No experimento I as características medidas foram o índice de germinação, porcentagem de sementes com coleóptilo superior a 5 mm e porcentagem de redução no comprimento do coleóptilo devido ao frio. No experimento II a característica medida foi o recrescimento do coleóptilo após o período de frio. Houve variabilidade para tolerância ao frio entre os genótipos estudados em ambos os experimentos, mas apenas a porcentagem de redução no comprimento do coleóptilo e o recrescimento do mesmo permitiram melhor distinção entre as testemunhas tolerantes e a sensíve...

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Flowering time (or days to heading) is an important characteristic in crop plants that affects adaptation to cropping cycles and growing seasons. The objectives of this study were to identify molecular markers associated with flowering time in 3 oat populations developed from Brazilian oat varieties, and to compare their map locations with those of other loci that might influence flowering time. Flowering time was studied in recombinant inbred lines from 3 hexaploid oat populations: UFRGS 8 x Pc68/5*Starter; UFRGS 881971 x Pc68/5*Starter; and UFRGS 8 x UFRGS 930605. Bulked segregant analysis, using amplified fragment length polymorphism, was followed by selective mapping in each population and in a reference population, 'Kanota' x 'Ogle' (KxO). One quantitative trait locus (QTL) with major effects on flowering time was identified in each cross. Comparative mapping showed that a major QTL, with earliness alleles originating from UFRGS 8 and UFRGS 881971, is in a region with close homology to KxO linkage group 17 and to a locus that reportedly confers day-length insensitivity in oat (Di1). This is the first report to identify the map location of the Di1 locus, and putatively confirm the presence of Di1 alleles in new germplasm. Further comparative mapping and the alignment of mapped oat markers with the sequenced rice genome suggest that this QTL and (or) Di1 is orthologous to the Hd1 locus in rice and the CONSTANS gene in Arabidopsis and other species. A different QTL with major effects segregated in the UFRGS 8 x UFRGS 930605 cross, where the early-flowering allele for Di1 was probably fixed. Two additional QTLs with smaller effects were identified in the UFRGS 8 x Pc68/5*Starter population. These results suggest that the Brazilian oat line UFRGS 8 contains an optimal set of alleles conditioning earliness under the short-day conditions of the Brazilian winter growing season, and that molecular selection could be used to introgress these alleles into other breeding material.

The use of oat (Avena sativa L.) dwarfing genes in breeding programs to improve lodging resistance has been limited, mainly because of decreases in yield and grain quality in many environments. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of the dominant Dw6, Dw7, and Dw8 dwarfing genes on plant height components and the gibberellic acid (GA) response of the dwarf lines. Plant height components including internode length, panicle length, and panicle exertion were measured in plants of three nondwarf and nine dwarf lines grown in the field at St. Paul in 1992 and 1993. Five experiments were performed in growth chambers to assay the response of nondwarf and dwarf oat genotypes to exogenous GA applied at the seedling stage. The Dw6 gene in line OT207 caused a 34 to 37% reduction in plant height due to the reduction in the length of the three uppermost internodes but not internode number. The 46% reduction in height caused by the Dw7 gene in line NC2469‐3 resulted from decreases in both internode number and elongation. The Dw8 gene present in derivatives of seven Japanese lines shortened all internodes but did not affect internode number, reducing plant height by about 50%. The dwarf lines that carry these dwarfing loci are responsive to exogenously added GA3, GA1 and GA20, and thus the mutations appear not to involve disruptions of the conversion of GA20 to GA1 The results indicate that different strategies may be needed to adjust for the different plant height component effects of each of the three dwarfing genes for their use in oat cultivar development.

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Cold tolerance of rice (Oryza sativa L.) during the reproductive stage is important to guarantee high yield under low temperature environments. Field selection, however, does not allow identification of adequate tolerance sources and limits selection of segregating lines due to variable temperature. The objective of this study was to devise methods for distinguishing rice genotypes as to their cold tolerance at the reproductive stage when evaluated under controlled temperature. The effect of cold temperatures was investigated in six rice genotypes at 17°C for varying length of time (three, five, seven and ten days) at two reproductive stages (microsporogenesis and anthesis). Cold tolerance was measured as the percentage of reduction in panicle exsertion and in spikelet fertility. Evaluating cold tolerance through the reduction in panicle exsertion did not allow for the distinction between cold tolerant from cold sensitive genotypes and, when the reduction in spikelet fertility was considered, a minimum of seven days was required to differentiate the genotypes for cold tolerance. Genotypes were more sensitive to cold at anthesis than at microsporogenesis and, as these stages were highly correlated, cold screening could be performed at anthesis only, since it is easier to determine. Rice cold tolerance at the reproductive stage may be characterized by the reduction in spikelet fertility due to cold temperature (17°C) applied for seven days at anthesis. Key words: cold temperature, microsporogenesis, anthesis, panicle exsertion, spikelet sterility TOLERÂNCIA AO FRIO DO ARROZ NO ESTÁDIO REPRODUTIVO SOB CONDIÇÕES CONTROLADASRESUMO: A tolerância do arroz (Oryza sativa L.) ao frio no período reprodutivo é importante para garantir alto rendimento em ambientes com temperatura baixa. No entanto, a seleção em condições de campo não permite identificar fontes adequadas de tolerância e limita a seleção de linhas segregantes devido à temperatura variável. Este trabalho teve por objetivo definir uma metodologia capaz de distinguir genótipos de arroz quanto à sua tolerância ao frio no período reprodutivo quando avaliados sob temperatura controlada. O efeito do frio foi investigado em seis genótipos de arroz submetidos a 17°C por períodos variáveis de tempo (três, cinco, sete e dez dias) em dois estádios do período reprodutivo (microsporogênese e antese). A tolerância ao frio foi avaliada por meio da porcentagem de redução na exerção da panícula e na fertilidade de espiguetas. O resultados indicaram que avaliar a tolerância ao frio por meio da redução na exerção da panícula não permitiu separar genótipos tolerantes ao frio de genótipos sensíveis e, quando avaliada por meio da redução na fertilidade de espiguetas, no mínimo sete dias foram necessários para diferenciar os genótipos quanto à tolerância ao frio. Eles foram mais sensíveis ao frio na antese que na microsporogênese e, como estes estádios foram altamente correlacionados, a seleção sob frio poderia ser feita somente neste estádio, que é de mais fácil determinaç...