Genotypic Variation in Epidermal Conductance and its Associated Traits among Oryza sativa and O. glaberrima Cultivars and their Interspecific Progenies

Epidermal conductance (g min ) is a measurement of water loss through the cuticle and stomata when stomatal conductance is minimal. Two pot experiments were conducted to evaluate genotypic variation in g min for 10 to 12 rice cultivars ( Oryza spp.) grown under flooded conditions. Epidermal conductance was estimated by measuring loss of water from the excised topmost fully‐expanded leaves. Considerable genotypic variation in g min was found. Two O. glaberrima cultivars had lower g min , whereas the O. sativa lowland cultivars tended to have higher g min Excluding data for O. glaberrima , higher g min was associated with higher stomatal density × stomatal length, suggesting that residual stomatal transpiration contributes to genotypic variation in g min .