Strategies for developing Green Super Rice

Abstract

This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected on May 1, 2007.From a global viewpoint, a number of challenges need to be met for sustainable rice production: (i) increasingly severe occurrence of insects and diseases and indiscriminate pesticide applications; (ii) high pressure for yield increase and overuse of fertilizers; (iii) water shortage and increasingly frequent occurrence of drought; and (iv) extensive cultivation in marginal lands. A combination of approaches based on the recent advances in genomic research has been formulated to address these challenges, with the long-term goal to develop rice cultivars referred to as Green Super Rice. On the premise of continued yield increase and quality improvement, Green Super Rice should possess resistances to multiple insects and diseases, high nutrient efficiency, and drought resistance, promising to greatly reduce the consumption of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and water. Large efforts have been focused on identifying germplasms and discovering genes for resistance to diseases and insects, N-and P-use efficiency, drought resistance, grain quality, and yield. The approaches adopted include screening of germplasm collections and mutant libraries, gene discovery and identification, microarray analysis of differentially regulated genes under stressed conditions, and functional test of candidate genes by transgenic analysis. Genes for almost all of the traits have now been isolated in a global perspective and are gradually incorporated into genetic backgrounds of elite cultivars by molecular marker-assisted selection or transformation. It is anticipated that such strategies and efforts would eventually lead to the development of Green Super Rice.genomics ͉ rice genetic improvement ͉ sustainable agriculture

Linking differential domain functions of the GS3 protein to natural variation of grain size in rice

“…In contrast, premature termination of the OSR domain by a single base substitution in the second exon greatly increased grain length, which is the case for long grain varieties widely cultivated in the world, suggesting that this allele has been highly favored in breeding programs. These results are directly useful in breeding programs to modify grain size and increase grain yield using both molecular marker-assisted selection and genetic transformation techniques (33,34).…”

Drought-tolerance QTLs commonly detected in two sets of reciprocal introgression lines in rice

“…Nearly 23 Mha of land in Asia (Pandey and Bhandari 2007) and 13.6 Mha in eastern India (Pandey and Bhandari 2009) is estimated to be drought-prone under rainfed conditions. Drought can occur at any stage during the rice-growing season, due to inadequate irrigation, uneven distribution of rainfall, variation in rainfall patterns from one year to another or inadequate rainfall in large areas (Zhang 2007). The reproductive stage (from panicle initiation to flowering) is recognised as the most critical stage at which drought stress can directly affect grain yield (Lanceras et al 2004;Venuprasad et al 2009).…”

Changes in Grain Yield and Root Morphology and Physiology of Mid-Season Rice in the Yangtze River Basin of China During the Last 60 Years

“…The genetic improvement (GI) in rice plays a crucial role in the yield increase in China and even in the world (Cheng et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2007). As an integral part of plant organs, plant roots are involved in acquisition of water and nutrients, synthesis of plant hormones, organic acids and amino acids, and anchorage of plants (Fitter et al, 2002;Inukai et al, 2004).…”