Abstract

In the Sahel zone of West Africa that extends from Senegal to Chad, temperatures can vary from less than 15 °C to 25 °C from November to February. These low temperatures affect the growth, development and yield of rice plants, and therefore constitute a major constraint to rice production in the Sahel. In order to identify rice varieties tolerant to cold stress at different developmental stages, a diverse set of 224 rice germplasm was evaluated for yield and yield-related traits in Ndiaye, Senegal, using three different sowing dates. The first sowing date (October 2010), was chosen so as to expose the rice plants to cold stress at the reproductive stage while the rice crop planted at the second sowing date (January 2011) experienced cold stress at the vegetative stage. The third sowing date (July 2011) was the normal planting date for irrigated rice in the Sahel and it served as the control date when the crop does not experience any cold stress throughout its growth cycle. Among the data collected, significant genetic variation was detected and genotype-by-environment interaction was also significant for the traits. At the vegetative stage, cold stress reduced tillering and plant vigor and delayed flowering but increased yield, whereas at the reproductive stage, aside from delaying flowering, cold stress also inhibited panicle exsertion and reduced panicle length, spikelet fertility, grain filling and strongly reduced yields. Principal Component Analysis and correlation analysis using agro-morphological traits helped to identify genotypes that were tolerant to cold stress at either the vegetative or the reproductive stage and the traits associated with high yield under cold stress at each of these stages. Our results can be used to develop cold tolerant rice varieties adapted to double cropping in the Sahelian zone of West Africa.

Highlights

  • Rice, considered the basic food of Asian countries, has become one of the most consumed food crops in Africa

  • Based on the hypothesis that the sowing date does not have any effect on the varieties, the objectives of this research were to identify cold tolerant rice genotypes that are adapted to the Sahel objectives of this research were to identify cold tolerant rice genotypes that are adapted to the Sahel zone of West Africa and the agro‐morphological traits associated with this adaptation

  • At the bottom of Axis 2, we find varieties that give a low biomass production, low yield (2–4 t/ha) and medium tillering (10–19)

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Summary

Introduction

Rice, considered the basic food of Asian countries, has become one of the most consumed food crops in Africa. Statistics show a consumption growth of around 6% per annum in West Africa while production increased by an average of 2% to 3% [1]. The import of rice by African governments is a real threat to their economies, food sovereignty and social stability. Agronomy 2016, 6, 8 in 2008 on food security served as a warning to African governments. Several African governments such as Mali, Nigeria and Senegal have since launched national programs for sustainable intensification of rice production. A key component of these strategies is the double cropping of rice in irrigated perimeters especially in the Sahel zone of West Africa.

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