Abstract
Drought stress has now become a severe threat to ensure food security in the developing world as well as in Malaysia. To dertermine physiological and molecular determinants of drought stress and screeneng of drought tollarent rice varieties, an experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at Universiti Putra Malaysia using eleven rice varieties and two irrigation regimes (well irrigated and water stressed). The present study indicated that traditional rice variety Puteh Perak and Siam is superior drought tolerant while IRRI 2011- IRLON Plot no: 064, MR 220 and BRRI Dhan 56 are moderately drought tolerant and IRRI 2011- IRLON Plot no: 050 and MR 84 are drought sensitive rice variety. Drought tolerance of those varieties were measured based on rate of tiller reduction, leaf rolling score and drought score during water stress condition. Leaf rolling score was positively correlated to drought score, chlorophyll content and proline accumulation. Significant increase in the proline accumulation and antioxidant enzyme activities (peroxidase and catalase) were also observed under drought stress in all the rice varieties except Siam and Puteh Perak. All the rice varieties including drought tolerant and sensitive variety showed the existence of OsLEA 30 genes.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the three major food crops of the world
It has been reported that greater leaf rolling may be an important indicator linked to drought tolerance and may have a positive impact on crop yield under water stress conditions
Drought score of all the varieties were ranged between 2 to 4, which indicates there nature as moderately resistant variety to drought stress
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the three major food crops of the world. It is the staple food for more than half of the world’s population. It is a nutritious cereal crop, provides 20% calories and 15% protein requirements of world population. Besides being the cheapest source of carbohydrate and protein in Asia, it is a source of minerals and fibre. Rice straw and bran are important animal feed in many countries. About 92% of the world's rice is produced and consumed in Asia. A majour part of asian rice grown under flooded irrigation and water is the main limiting factor for increased production of rice (AKINBILE et al, 2011)
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