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Inheritance of Leaf Epicuticular Wax Content in Rice
Author(s) -
Haque M. Mahiul,
Mackill David J.,
Ingram Keith T.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1992.0011183x003200040006x
Subject(s) - epicuticular wax , biology , diallel cross , cultivar , heritability , wax , population , phytotron , oryza sativa , botany , trait , horticulture , agronomy , genetics , hybrid , gene , biochemistry , demography , sociology , computer science , programming language
Leaf epicuticular wax (EW) is a trait related to drought resistance. Epicuticular wax content is low in rice ( Oryza sativa L.) relative to other crops, but great differences among rice cultivars have been observed, as great as 100%. Traditional drought‐resistant upland rices have relatively higher EW content than modern irrigated lowland rices. Our objective was to determine the inheritance of leaf EW content and the prospects for increasing EW levels in improved cultivars. Field, screenhouse, and phytotron experiments were conducted to quantify the EW content in eight rice cultivars. Gas‐liquid chromatography was used to measure EW in parents, F 1 progeny of an eight parent diallel crass, and two F 2 populations. Area under the three highest GLC peaks, corresponding to C 29 , C 33 , and C 35 hydrocarbons, accounted for > 90% of EW content. General combining ability effects were highly significant and specific combining ability effects were non significant. Broad‐sense and narrow‐sense heritability were 0.77 and 0.62, respectively. In an F 2 population from a cross between highand Iow‐EW parents, EW showed a normal distribution. Few recombinants had EW equal to that of the high wax parent, suggesting polygenic inheritance. While EW is a stable and heritable trait, the F 2 data indicate that selection on an individual‐plant basis in early generations would not be very effective. Furthermore, measurement is too difficult to be done on large populations and should be confined to identifying promising parents for hybridization.