Identification of superior rice donors with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency using a comprehensive multivariate...

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Plant Breeding
• Genetics

Background:

• Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice is crucial for sustainable agriculture.
• Traditional phenotyping methods for NUE are limited by bottlenecks in genetic diversity exploration and selection accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive multivariate genotype selection strategy for identifying rice with enhanced NUE.
• To explore the genetic variation of 300 diverse rice genotypes across multiple years, traits, environments, and locations.

Main Methods:

• Employed a multi-trait genotype ideotype distance index (MGIDI) for ranking genotypes.
• Conducted multi-location field trials and molecular analysis of nitrogen assimilatory genes.
• Utilized phenome-wide multivariate analysis to identify key traits.

Main Results:

• Identified superior NUE genotypes (Cauvery, Suweon, RPW9-4, BAM3690) and low NUE genotypes (Moroberekan, PUSA1121, BAM8315).
• Cauvery demonstrated superior nitrogen sensing, uptake, transport, and assimilation under nitrogen-limited conditions.
• Root-shoot plastic response was identified as a key trait for breeding N-stress resilient rice.

Conclusions:

• The multivariate strategy effectively identified superior NUE rice genotypes.
• Targeting root-shoot plasticity is a promising approach for developing rice varieties resilient to nitrogen stress.
• Genomic and phenotypic data integration is vital for advancing NUE research.