The object of this study was to determine the difference of the time course changes of transpiration, diffusion resistance and photosynthetic rate of rice at several different growth stages subjected to soil moisture stress (SMS) and recovery by irrigation. A japonica rice cultivar 'Dongjinbyeo', was grown under flooded condition in a plastic container filled with silty loam soil. At 5 main growth stages, the container was treated by SMS until initial wilting point (IWP) and then reirrigated. The duration of SMS until IWP were the longest, 13 days for tillering stage, and the shortest, 7 days for panicle initiation and meiosis stage. The transpiration rate rapidly decreased during SMS and the transpiration rate at IWP of the stressed plant showed 10∼20% compared with control, and the transpiration rate of stressed plant at most growth stages also recovered rapidly after irrigation and then reached 100% of control within a week. The shoot photosynthetic rate in all growth stages rapidly decreased by SMS, and the rates at IWP of stressed plants were de-creased nearly to 0%, beside the treatment at tillering stage. The recovery degree of photosynthetic rate by irrigation ranged from 20 to 90%, showed higher at early growth stages of SMS treatment than that of later stages. At all growth stages the leaf diffusion resistance of stressed plants was over 3 times that of the control resulting from a rapid increase at 3 to 5 days after draining for SMS, and showed quick recovery by irrigation within 3 days after drainage. The above physiological parameters changed in close relation with the decrease of the soil matric potential after SMS. These results indicate that at all main growth stages of rice plants the transpiration and photosynthesis reduction by stomatal closure reponded sensitively to the first stage of SMS closely related with decrease of soil water potential, while those recovery pattern and recovered degree by irrigation are little different by growth stage of rice.

Unstable seedling stand establishment of wet direct seeding culture of rice is one of the major elements preventing the extension of its culture area. In order to develop methods of seedling stand improvement in direct seeded rice on flooded surfaces, three field experiments were conducted on silty loam soil using a cultivar 'Donjinbyeo' for three years, mainly focusing on water management after seeding and seed soaking with plant growth regulators (PGRs). Under the condition of shallow flooding after seeding, seedling stand rate increased and floating seedling rate decreased in both early and normal season seeding compared to deep flooding. With earlier draining time after seeding, there was a tendency towards preferential growth of the seminal root, increase of seedling stand and decrease of the floating seedling rate. Therefore the highest seedling numbers per unit area and the lowest floating seedling numbers were found upon drainage at 1 day after seeding (DAS), while a contrary tendency was shown upon conventional drainage at 7 DAS. Seed soaking with PGRs such as Metalaxyl or mixing of Metalaxyl with gibberellic acid (GA3 ) significantly increased the seedling stand. In addition the effects of PGR treatment on seedling stand and the early growth of plants were greater under flooded conditions than under drained conditions after seeding, although draining of water after seeding improved the seedling establishment rate more when compared with the PGR treatment. These results suggest that draining management after seeding or maintaining of shallow flooding for a week is the most effective method to improve the seedling stand rate in wet direct seeding.

In rice-barley cropping systems, efficient utilization of barley straw is essential, both to improve the soil fertility and to conserve the environment. In order to identify the effects of barley straw mulch rates in rice cultivation, a rice cultivar, 'Gancheogbyeo', was directly seeded on a no-tillage field synchronized with barley harvesting with five barley straw mulch rates, i.e., 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 ton h a-1 and agronomic characters of rice and soil nitrogen were determined. The increasing of barley straw mulch rates. Dominant weed species, chestnut, occurred in large amounts in no mulching or lower mulch rates than in higher mulch rates. The content of N H4 ＋ -N in soil applied with high barley straw mulch rates was lower during the month after seeding, and then it was higher at heading date, compared with lower mulch rates or no mulch plot. As the barley straw rate increased, maximum tillering stage was delayed, and plant height was reduced. Although the lodging of rice plants was seldom observed in all plots, the breaking strength of the culm was significantly higher in the mulch rate of 10.0 ton h a-1 . With an increase of barley straw mulch rate, the effective tillering rate and spikelet number m-2 decreased while ripened grain ratio increased. The rice grain yield was slightly decreased with an increase of barley straw mulch rate, although significant differences were not found all barley straw mulch rates. These results suggest that there is no significant yield loss although the total barley straw production, approximately 5.0 ton h a-l in the present study, apply in the paddy for the following rice cultivation by no-tillage direct seeding.ect seeding.

This experiment was conducted to elucidate the relation-ship between vertical distribution of rice roots and yield traits under field conditions. Eight IRRI's new plant type rices (NPTRs) were tested in a volcanic ash soil paddy field under dense (IO 10 cm) and common (20 20 cm) planting densities. These lines were evaluated to have more spikelet numbers per panicle (SNP), lower filled grain rate (FGR), and lower rough grain weight per hill (RGWH). In dense planting, rough grain weight per stem (RGWS) was increased due to heavier culm and leaf dry weight (CLDW), and both RGWS and CLDW were related with the percentage of root distribution (%RWI) in the 10~30 cm soil layer, while in common planting, RGWS was not closely related with CLDW. SNP was highly related with root dry weight (RDW) in the 0~10cm soil layer. FGR was mainly affected by ROW in the 10~30 cm soil layer under both planting densities. RGWS was positively correlated with top dry weight (TDW) and harvest index (HI), and TDW was positively correlated with RWI under common planting or %RWI under dense planting, and HI was positively correlated with RWI in the 10~30 cm soil layer only under dense planting. RGWS was closely related with root weight index by dry weight (RWI) in the 10~30 cm soil layer and %RWI in the 0~30 cm or 10~30 cm soil layer under dense planting, and with only RWI in the 10~30 cm soil layer under common planting. But RGWH showed the close positive relationship with RDW and RWI in the 10~30 cm soil layer under dense planting, while under common planting, it showed the close positive relationship with RWI and %RWI in the 10~30 cm soil layer or %RWI in the 0~30 cm soil layer. The deeper root system in rice, especially under dense planting, is important for high yield of NPTRs focusing on the increment of top mass production and harvest index.