Breeding of rice for low water requirement is a long term goal and it can be achieved with development and cultivation of aerobic rice genotypes. Component traits of aerobic rice needed to be genetically and phenotypically characterized for the successful incorporation. Traits viz., seedling vigour, salinity tolerance, water use efficiency, root exudation, microbiome association, nutrients mobilization and utilization, nutrients use efficiency, higher temperature tolerance, spikelet fertility. These traits should be phenotypically characterized and genomic regions regulating the traits should be identified for successful incorporation to evolve an aerobic rice genotype suitable under tropical upland rice ecosystem with increased productivity levels and less water requirement abilities. Screening methods should be standardized with controlled water application methods, and temperature regulations during critical stages of growth. Magical populations should be evolved by crossing multiple divergent parents to bring the wider genetic pool in one genetic background for the introgression of component traits of aerobic rice genotypes.
Aerobic Rice Development, Prospects, Challenges, Scope, Breeding of rice, low water requirement
S.K. Pradhan, A.K. Mall, A. Ghosh, S. Singh, P. Samal, S.K. Dash, and O.N. Singh, Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack 753 006, Odisha, India; A. Kumar, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños, Philippines.
Duncan A. Vaughan a,, Bao-Rong Lu b , Norihiko Tomooka , (2008) The Evolving story of rice evolution. Plant Science 174: 394-408.
Keisuke Katsura (2013) Agronomic Traits for High Productivity of Rice Grown in Aerobic Culture in Progeny of a Japonica Cultivar and a High-Yielding Indica Cultivar, Plant Production Science, 16:4, 317-324.
