In plants, nitrogen is the major component for growth and development. Leaf growth is based on the division, elongation and maturation of cells, which are used for making of epidermis, mesophyll, bundle sheath, xylem, phloem and so on. Dynamics of these tissues with respect to nitrogen are required for better understanding. This experiment was conducted to evaluate effect of nitrogen on the elongation of epidermal and guard cell of two rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties, Seoanbyeo and Dasanbyeo on May 2000 at Chungbuk national university in Cheongju. After transplaning the 20-day-old seedlings into a/5000 pots, the main characteristics related with cell elongation were investigated and evaluated. A maximum. leaf length reached at 7 or 8 days after emerging from the collar, and also the leaf elongation rates were greatly affected by the increase of N application rate. The initial and final cell length were about 17~mu~textrmm and 130~mu~textrmm , respectively. Cell divisions occurred within 1.0mm from leaf base. With die higher nitrogen application rate of 22 kg-N 10~textrma-1 , cell division per hour was greater 1.5 to 1.9 and 1.2 to 1.3 fold as compared to the N application rate of 0 and 11 kg-N 10~textrma-1 , respectively. Cell enlargement of epidermal and guard cell under higher N application rate (22kg-N 10~textrma-1 ) was finished within about 20 (Seoanbyeo) and 15 hours (Dasanbyeo), while it took much time, about 30 hours.

• Jwa-Kyung Sung
• Chul-Won Lee
• Tae-Wan Kim
• Seon-Woong Hwang
• Beom-Heon Song