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.
Unkwang is a newjaponica rice cultivar developed from the cross between Sobibyeo (Iksan435), high yield and coldtolerance cultivar and Cheolweon 54, early maturity cultivar at Honam Agricultural Reaserch Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, m2004. This cultivar h