Irrigation with saline water of rivers and groundwater reservoir into paddy field cause decreases rice production depending on water salinity. The purpose of this research was to determine the critical concentration of water salinity for provision of a basic information on the stable rice production in west costal area of Honam region. A greenhouse experiment was conducted at the 13 levels of saline water [0.01(control) 0.03, 0.05, 0.08, 0.10, 0.13, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.50, 0.70, 1.00%] in transplanted rice using c.v. Cheongho and tolerance to different water salinities was evaluated at three growth stages of the rice plant such as [(35 DAT:Tillering), (81 DAT:Heading), and (106 DAT:Ripening)], respectively. Increasing water salinity significantly decreased grain yield and the higher in salinity the severe effect on yield reduction. The growth responses to water salinity varied at different growth stages of rice. At 35 DAT, increased water salinity decreased plant height and number of tillers significantly. Higher water salinity delayed the days to heading by 2 days (0.05%), 4 days (0.08%) and 7 days (0.1%). The critical water salinity at 35 DAT was below 0.08%. At 81 DAT, Cheongho survived at 0.10 and 0.08% salinity, respectively. However, at water salinity levels above 0.10%, the yield components such as number of panicles and number of spikelet decreased drastically. Thus, it was suggested that the critical water salinity at the mid-stage (tillering~heading, 81 DAT) was 0.05%, At 106 DAT, based on yield index that gives above 50% grain yield, the 0.05% salinity showed the lowest 61.1% grain yield of 19.2 g/plant as compared with the highest grain yield of 31.4 g/plant at 0.01% (control).

We investigated the change of growth characters by over-expressing OsPT6 (OsPT6-OX) under phosphorus (Pi) deficient condition in rice. In analyzing the change of growth rate according to Pitreatment for two weeks, shoot growth rate of OsPT6-OX was increased in Pi deficient condition than in Pi sufficient condition. Therefore, the chlorophyll content of leaf in OsPT6-OXs did not increase even decreased in the youngest leaf. However growth rate of wild type plant in Pi deficient condition showed significant reduction with increment of chlorophyll content. In analyzing agronomic characters, the tiller number of OsPT6-OX less decreased than those of wild type plant in Pi deficient condition. Panicle number and ripening rate of wild type plant were changed according to Pi treatment. However those of OsPT6-OX did not change in such conditions. Resulting of changes in agronomic characters, yield of wild type plant decreased about 10 % in Pi deficient condition. That of OsPT6-OX did not show significant difference in Pi deficient condition. The results obtained this study demonstrated that over-expression of OsPT6 could increase phosphorus deficient stress resistance in rice.

Rice production is largely affected by various environmental conditions such as cold, heat and flooding. Here, to identify cold tolerant QTLs at seedling stage in rice, we generated RIL population derived from a cross between Hanareum 2 and Unkwang which are a highly cold sensitive and cold tolerant, respectively. We observed cold phenotype of this population in the growth chamber conditions and natural field conditions. For observation of cold tolerant phenotype of RIL population in the growth chamber, we treated cold stress (5~13℃) for 14 days and recovery for 4 days. When we examined the phenotype of RIL in the field conditions, temperature range in the field conditions was about 6 to 25℃ in 2015~2016. We named QTLs as Seedling Cold Tolerant (SCT) in growth chamber and Cold induced Yellowing Tolerant (CYT) in the field, respectively. Three QTLs for SCT and 5 QTLs for CYT were detected on chromosome 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12. Among these QTLs, qSCT12 on chromosome 12 showed 26.3 LOD score with 25.5% of phenotypic variation. When qSCT11.1 and qSCT12 were combined, cold tolerant was most strongest in our experimental conditions. qCYT10 on chromosome 10 was identified in field experiment on both 2015 and 2016. These results may provide useful information for a marker-assisted breeding program to improve cold tolerance in rice.

The amylose contents of rice determine eating quality which is one of the major traits in rice breeding program. To identify the low-amylose gene of the japonica rice cultivar Baegjinju, genetic analysis was conducted using 200 F2 population derived from a cross between the japonica cultivars, Saeilmi and Baegjinju. Individual F2 plants were classified as wild type (translucent grain) and mutant type (dull grain) based on the grain appearance of brown rice. Two hundred F2 plants were segregated into 155 wild type plants and 45 mutant type plants, which fit the 3:1 ratio (x2 = 0.667, df = 1, p = 0.414) and this result indicated the low-amylose gene of Baegjinju is a single recessive gene which controls the amylose contents. Linkage analysis was conducted to localize the low-amylose gene of Baegjinju and fine mapped within an 800-kb interval between 17.5 to 18.8Mb on short arm of chromosome 10. Co-segregated SSR marker, RM25648 was developed and it could be useful for marker-assisted selection and determination of the genetic resource related with amylose contents in rice breeding.

Bakanae (foolish seedling) disease caused by Gibberella fujikuroi creates serious problems in the foremost rice growing countries. This study was conducted to identify new resistance genetic sources to Bakanae disease. Bioassay showed that 11 varieties including Gwangmyeongbyeo, Hawn, Wonseadaesoo, Erguailai etc. were resistant to bakanae disease among 254 rice germplasm. Mismatch ratio between phenotype on bakanae disease bioassay and allele type of RM9, a SSR marker closely linked the bakanae disease resistant QTL, qBK1, were 38.3%. These results suggest that RM9 might be used for selecting qBK1, but it cannot be used for wide range of rice germplasm. Resistant germplasm in this study might be have resistant genes different from qBK1. The eleven varieties resistant to selected in this study will be used to identify new resistant alleles or genes to improve bakanae disease resistance in rice.

Drought caused by global climate change is one of serious problems for rice cultivation. However, it was little reported the impact of drought on rice cultivation in Korea. In here, to assess impact of drought on rice varieties in Korean climate condition, growth characteristics and yield components of rice were compared on irrigated and partially irrigated rice paddy field. First, we have chosen 11 rice varieties including ‘Saeilmi’ and ‘Shindongjin’ which are widely cultivated in Korea. For partially irrigated rice paddy treatment, we have withheld irrigation from 25 days after transplanting and water supply was totally dependent on rainfall for rice cultivation. When we examined early plant height and tiller number of these varieties on partially irrigated rice paddy were reduced 1.6% to 18.4% and 10.4% to 33.1%, respectively, and these reduction rate were highly correlated with yield loss in our experimental conditions. Among rice yield components, panicle number was decreased 10.5% to 30.1% according to rice varieties and reduced panicle number was highly correlated with yield loss. Grain number per panicle, grain filling rate and 1,000 seeds weight did not have correlation with yield loss of rice varieties. These result means that growth stage, especially the tillering stage, is seriously affected by drought on rice cultivation in Korea. And we suggest that ‘Saeilmi’, ‘Ilmi’ and ‘Ilpum’ are good for rice cultivation on drought prone rice field in Korea.

In here, we screened drought tolerant varieties with modified leaf water loss rate assay and visual drought tolerant phenotype in the greenhouse conditions with more than 800 varieties. Among these varieties, Samgang, Gumei4 and Apo showed the lowest of leaf water loss rate and strong drought tolerant phenotype. To identify drought QTLs with Samgang variety, we developed the doubled-haploid (DH) population consist of 101 lines derived from a cross the drought tolerant cultivar Samgang and the drought sensitive cultivar Nagdong. To score the drought phenotype degrees of this population, we withheld water for 6 weeks and treated the watering for 7 days. After watering, visual phenotype was observed 1 to 9 degree according to the standard evaluation system for rice, IRRI. Drought sensitive parent Nagdong was almost died and was scored as 9 degree, while tolerant parent Samgang showed slightly leaf tip drying phenotype and was scored as 3 degree in our experimental conditions. Three main QTLs were detected on chromosome 2, 6, and 11 with this visual phenotype. We also measured relative water contend of these population under drought stress conditions, and got one main QTL on chromosome 11. The QTL loci on chromosome 11 with flanking markers RM26755-RM287 has a function for visual phenotype and relative water content under drought conditions.

Rice is a staple food crop for more than half of the world population. Severe losses of rice production was caused by various environmental conditions such as cold, heat and flooding annually. Rice is a highly sensitive to low temperature below 15-20 ℃ because of originating from tropical or subtropical climates. Especially, seedling of rice is easily damaged to low temperature and result in seedling yellowing, growth retardation, reduced tillering and yield losses at last. We used a recombinant inbreeding lines (RIL) population of 384 individuals derived from a cross between Hanareum 2, a highly cold sensitive variety and Unkwang, a cold tolerant variety for molecular mapping of QTLs related to cold tolerance. Seedling discoloration of each lines and parents caused by cold response were investigated in field condition after transplanting. And leaf samples of RIL population were collected for evaluation of chlorophyll content using 80% acetone extraction. The seedling of each lines and parents was subjected to low temperate by 5~13 ℃ during 14 days. The cold recovery score (CRS) of RILs was recorded after 4 days recovery period according to standard evaluation system (SES, IRRI). Total of eight QTLs were detected on chromosome 1, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 using cold tolerance traits, chlorophyll content, seedling discoloration and cold recovery score in 384 RILs. The qCRS12, which detected on chromosome 12 between two flanking markers id12002113, id12002563 (1.1 Mbp) showed 25 LOD score with 26% of phenotypic variation of cold recovery score in RILs population. The positive allele contributing to cold tolerance came from the cold tolerant parent Unkwang. The result may provide useful information for a marker-assisted breeding program to improve cold tolerant in rice.

Even rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, its micronutrient contents including iron is not enough to solve mineral malnutrition which is a significant public health issue in most developing countries. Iron deficiency is probably the most widespread micronutrient deficiency in humans. Experts estimate that a rice based diet should contain 14.5 ppm iron in endosperm. However, Cesar P et al reported that average iron content in milled rice was 2 ~ 3 ppm, whease it was 10 ~ 11 ppm in brown rice. Fe content of rice is usually measured by inductively plasma spectrometry (ICP). It takes times and could make error while sample processing. To breed high iron contained rice variety, the effective screen method for select high iron contained elite line is essential. To develop more effective method in screening high Fe contained brown rice, we investigate the relation the leaf chlorophyll content with iron content in brown rice. Result of analyzing leaf chlorophyll content of OsNAS3-OX which contain more Fe than wild-type plant after cultivated on Fe limited MS medium, those of OsNAS3-OX was higher than those of wild-type plant in 0 and 20 % Fe contained MS medium. After measured Fe content in twenty kinds of brown rice, we cultivated those in Fe limited MS medium then investigate the relation of leaf chlorophyll content with Fe content of brown rice. In 0 and 5 % Fe contained MS medium, the leaf chlorophyll content was highly related with Fe content of brown rice as 0.66 and 0.79. Though these result, analyze of leaf chlorophyll content cultivated in 5 % Fe content in MS media was effect on screening high Fe contained.

Understanding salt tolerance mechanisms is important for the increase of crop yields, and so, several screening approaches were developed to identify plant genes which are involved in salt tolerance of plants. Here, we transformed the Arabidopsis cDNA library into a salt-sensitive calcineurin (CaN)-deficient (cnbD) yeast mutant and isolated the colonies which can suppress salt-sensitive phenotype of cnbD mutant. Through this functional complementation screen, a total of 34 colonies functionally suppressed the salt-sensitive phenotype of cnbD yeast cells, and sequencing analysis revealed that these are 9 genes, including CaS, AtSUMO1 and AtHB-12. Among these genes, the ectopic expression of CaS gene increased salt tolerance in yeast, and CaS transcript was up-regulated under high salinity conditions. CaS-antisense transgenic plants showed reduced root elongation under 100 mM NaCl treatment compared to the wild type plant, which survived under 150 mM NaCl treatment, whereas CaS-antisense transgenic plant leaves turned yellow under 150 mM NaCl treatment. These results indicate that the expression of CaS gene is important for stress tolerance in yeast and plants.

Bakanae disease of rice, caused by Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon, the imperfect stage of Gibberella fujikuroi, is one of the most important rice diseases worldwide, but no rice variety has been found to be completely resistant to this fungus. Cultivation of resistant cultivars is the most beneficial way of reducing quantitative or qualitative losses to for bakanae disease in rice. To facilitate the study of this disease, accurate and large scale screening methods were developed for the inoculation and evaluation of Bakanae disease. Even and large scale infection was achieved by using F. moniliforme spore in tissue embedding cassette and seedling tray. The efficiency of F. moniliforme infection with the concentration of 1×106 spore/ml caused better distribution (F-value=33.96) than 1×102 (F-value=10.69), and 1×104 spore/ml (F-value=2.63). We established new criteria of healthy and non-healthy plant, and introduced calculation of proportion of healthy plants to meet fast evaluation of resistance level of each variety. The effect of F. moniliforme strains containing different genetic background was also evaluated with rice varieties to figure out the stability of resistance level. GA3 response of rice variety was significantly correlated with bakanae disease, but it did not adequate for direct indicator of bakanae disease resistance. These results indicated that a large scale infection method developed in this study is fast and reproducible, as well as a disease evaluation system provides an accurate measurement of bakanae disease resistance of rice.

Glycolysis is responsible for the conversion of glucose into pyruvate and for supplying reducing power and several metabolites. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (AtFBA1), a central enzyme in the glycolysis pathway, was isolated by functional complementation of the salt-sensitive phenotype of a calcineurin (CaN)-deficient yeast mutant. Under high salinity conditions, aldolase activity and the concentration of NADH were compromised. However, expression of AtFBA1 maintained aldolase activity and the NADH level in yeast cells. AtFBA1 shares a high degree of sequence identity with known class I type aldolases, and its expression was negatively regulated by stress conditions including NaCl. The fusion protein GFP-AtFBA1 was localized in the cytosol of Arabidopsis protoplasts. The seed germination and root elongation of AtFBA1 knock-out plants exhibited sensitivity to ABA and salt stress. These results indicate that AtFBA1 expression and aldolase activity is important for stress tolerance in yeast and plants.