Abstract
BackgroundEarly seedling vigor is an essential trait of direct-seeded rice. It helps the seedlings to compete with weeds for water and nutrient availability, and contributes to better seedling establishment during the initial phase of crop growth. Seedling vigor is a complex trait, and phenotyping by a destructive method limits the improvement of this trait through traditional breeding. Hence, a non-invasive, rapid, and precise image-based phenotyping technique is developed to increase the possibility to improve early seedling vigor through breeding in rice and other field crops.ResultsTo establish and assess the methodology using free-source software, early seedling vigor was estimated from images captured with a digital SLR camera in a non-destructive way. Here, the legitimacy and strength of the method have been proved through screening seven diverse rice cultivars varying for early seedling vigor. In the regression analysis, whole-plant area (WPA) estimated by destructive-flatbed scanner (WPAs) and non-destructive imaging (WPAi) approaches was strongly related (R2 > 83%) and suggested that WPAi can be adapted in place of destructive methods to estimate seedling vigor. In addition, this study has identified a set of new geometric traits (convex hull and top view area) for screening breeding lines for early seedling vigor in rice, which decreased the time by 80% and halved the cost of labor in data observation.ConclusionsThe method demonstrated here is affordable and easy to establish as a phenotypic platform. It is suitable for most glasshouses/net houses for characterizing genotypes to understand the plasticity of shoots under a given environment at the seedling stage. The methodology explained in this experiment has been proven to be practical and suggested as a technique for researchers involved in direct-seeded rice. Consequently, it will help in the simultaneous screening of genotypes in large numbers, the identification of donors, and in gaining information on the genetic basis of the trait to design a breeding program for direct-seeded rice.
Highlights
Seedling vigor is an essential trait of direct-seeded rice
We found some minor differences in the ranking of genotypes at 14 and 28 days after sowing (DAS) between non-destructive imaging (WPAi) and whole-plant area (WPA)
In the present experiment, the non-destructive-based imaging technique captured the dynamic responses of plants in the early stage and revealed significant differences across genotypes
Summary
Seedling vigor is an essential trait of direct-seeded rice. It helps the seedlings to compete with weeds for water and nutrient availability, and contributes to better seedling establishment during the initial phase of crop growth. A non-invasive, rapid, and precise image-based phenotyping technique is developed to increase the possibility to improve early seedling vigor through breeding in rice and other field crops. Non-destructive phenotyping techniques are the key factors for screening and developing suitable rice genotypes for the target environment in a brief period [4, 5]. A genotype with early seedling vigor has significance in smothering the effect of weed competitiveness and water use efficiency to maintain the sustainability of rice production in rainfed and DSR conditions. The key limiting factor in developing rice varieties for direct-seeded conditions with early seedling vigor is the non-availability of a suitable non-destructive phenotyping screening technique to select genotypes against weed competitiveness with a consistent result. As biomass/shoot weight was observed to be closely related to early vigor measured at 14 and 28 days after sowing (DAS) [7], screening genotypes by measuring biomass with a non-destructive method has added advantages over other methods
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