Idealizing inflorescence architecture to enhance rice yield potential for feeding nine billion people in 2050

摘要

Rice serves as the staple food in meeting the energy needs of more than half of the global population.Several high-yielding,semi-dwarf rice varieties,including the milestone variety IR8 that was developed by the International Rice Research Institute(IRRI)through the introduction of the semi-dwarf1(sd1)allele of GA20-ox-2 gene and the beneficial allele of HIGH TILLERING AND DWARF 1/DWARF17(Wang et al.,2020),doubled the yield over traditional germplasm and contributed to the Green Revolution in Asia.In the subsequent decades,breeding efforts targeted ideal plant architecture to increase grains per panicle,reduce unproductive tillers,and improve grain quality by lowering chalkiness and enhancing palatability(Khush,2001).