Superior grains determined by grain weight are not fully correlated with the lfowering order in rice

摘要

Rice panicles are composed of many branches with two types of extreme grains, the superior and the inferior. Traditional y, it has been wel accepted that earlier lfowers result in superior grains and late lfowers generate inferior grains. However, these correlations have never been strictly examined in practice. In order to determine the accurate relationship between superior and inferior grains and the lfowering order, we localized al the seeds in a panicle in four distinct rice species and systematical y documented the rice lfowering order, lfower locations and the ifnal grain weight for their relationships. Our results demonstrated that the grain weight is more heavily determined by the position of the seeds than by the lfowering order. Despite earlier lfowering has a positive correlation with the grain weight in general, grains from lfowers blooming on the second day after anthesis general y gained the highest weight. This suggests earlier lfowers may not result in superior grains. Therefore, we concluded that superior and inferior grains, commonly determined by grain weight, are not ful y cor-related with the lfowering order in rice. Fol owing the order of the grain weight, the superior grains are general y localized at the middle parts of the primary branches, whereas inferior grains were mainly on the last two secondary branches of the lower half part of the panicle. In addition, the weight of inferior grains were affected by spikelet thinning and spraying with exogenous plant growth regulators, indicating that physiological incompetence might be the major reason for the occurrence of the inferior grains.