The solar radiation-related determinants of rice yield variation across a wide range of regions

Abstract

The information available on the environmental and plant characteristics that contribute to rice yield variation over a wide range of regions would be useful for understanding the generalized determinants of rice yield. In this study, we extracted the data (n = 107) of grain yield, biomass production, harvest index, intercepted radiation, radiation use efficiency (RUE), incident radiation and intercepted percent from 5 published studies conducted in 6 locations across 3 countries and evaluated the relationships between the parameters. A very large variation in grain yield, from 3.31 to 16.50 t ha −1 , was observed. About 73% and 6% of the yield variation was explained by biomass production and harvest index, respectively. Biomass production was strongly positively related to intercepted radiation. However, intercepted radiation would be difficult to further increase because it was related much more closely to incident radiation than to intercepted percent. Although RUE did not explain the variation in biomass production, it varied by nearly two fold (0.99-1.88 g MJ −1 ). Our study highlights the need for a comprehensive understanding of the various aspects of RUE in rice.

Availability of existing early-season rice cultivars as resources for selecting high-yielding short-duration cultivars of machine-transplanted late-season rice

“…Solar radiation is a critical factor in crop production because of the role it has in photosynthesis and the energy balance of plant systems (Hatfield and Prueger, 2015). Reports have shown that grain yield is correlated with incident solar radiation in rice (Huang et al, 2016a;Katsura et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2009). However, in this study, the better yield performance of Zhongjiazao 17 in the late season in 2015 and Lingliangyou 268 in the late season in 2015 and 2016 was mainly attributable to higher RUE A compared to other cultivars.…”

Agronomic performance of late-season rice in South China

“…The former depends on incident radiation and intercepted percent (i.e. the fraction of incident radiation intercepted by the canopy) (Huang et al, 2016a). Incident radiation can be increased by prolonging the duration of growth, while an increase in intercepted percent can be achieved by improving morphological characteristics of the canopy such as leaf area index (De Costa et al, 2006;Ying et al, 1998;Zhang et al, 2009 Pre-germinated seeds were sown in a seedbed on 24 July.…”

Higher Radiation Use Efficiency Produces Greater Biomass Before Heading and Grain Yield in Super Hybrid Rice

“…Thus, it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that the biomass enhancement of YLY compared to ZD was mainly achieved by RUE improvement, indicating that yield superiority of YLY was more closely related with RUE. A cross location analysis stated that the rice yield over a wide range of regions was more dependent on RI acc than RUE although they admit that RUE improvement is a feasible way to yield promotion based on a nearly a twofold variation in RUE (e.g., 0.99-1.88 g MJ −1 ) [37]. As discussed above, there exists large variation in RUE during the whole rice growth period, and using an integrated RUE to represent the rice canopy RUE may miss some important information.…”