Phenotypic correlation and path analysis in cultivars and strains of upland rice for drought tolerance / Correlação fenotípica e análise de trilha em cultivares e linhagens de arroz de sequeiro para tolerância à seca

The purpose of this study was to estimate the phenotypic correlations between 14 traits obtained in a thematic core collection of upland rice for drought tolerance and partition them into direct and indirect effects by path analysis. Two experiments were carried out (with and without water stress). One hundred samples were evaluated in a triple 10x10 lattice design. The plot was formed by four rows, 3.0 metres long, spaced at 0.35 m. The plot useful area was constituted by two central rows of 2.0 m in length, totalling 1.4 m2, where data from 14 traits were collected, five from the root system and nine from the aerial part of the plant. Of the evaluated traits, spikelet sterility was the main grain yield determinant, presenting relevant negative correlations of -0.77 and -0.59 in environments with and without drought stress, respectively. The partitioning of spikelet sterility correlations presented negative direct effects on grain yield in environments with (-0.60) and without (-0.62) water stress, corroborating the negative correlations between these traits. The obtained data confirmed that spikelet sterility is an important variable for the selection of rice strain submitted to water deficit. Partial correlation coefficients indicated that only 70.33% in the environment with stress and 50.30% in the environment without stress of grain yield variation were phenotypically explained by variables considered in path analysis, thereby showing the complexity of the selection for drought-tolerant rice.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi estimar as correlações fenotípicas entre 14 características obtidas em uma coleção nuclear temática de arroz de terras altas para tolerância à seca e desdobrá-las em seus efeitos diretos e indiretos por meio da análise de trilha. Foram conduzidos dois experimentos (com e sem estresse hídrico). Avaliou-se 100 materiais no delineamento experimental em látice triplo 10x10. A parcela foi formada por quatro linhas de 3,0 metros de comprimento espaçadas de 0,35 metros. A área útil da parcela foi constituída pelas duas linhas centrais de 2,0 metros de comprimento, perfazendo 1,4 m2 de onde foram coletados dados de 14 características sendo, cinco do sistema radicular e nove da parte aérea da planta. Das características avaliadas, esterilidade das espiguetas foi a principal determinante da produtividade de grãos apresentando correlação negativa de elevada magnitude de -0,78 e -0,59 nos ambientes com e sem estresse de seca, respectivamente. No desdobramento das correlações esterilidade das espiguetas apresentou efeitos diretos negativos na produtividade de grãos nos ambientes com (-0,60) e sem (-0,62) estresse hídrico, corroborando as correlações negativas entre estas características. Os dados obtidos enfatizaram que a esterilidade das espiguetas é uma variável importante para a seleção de linhagens de arroz submetidas à deficiência de água. Os coeficientes de determinações parciais indicaram que apenas 70,33% no ambiente com estresse e 50,30% no ambiente sem estresse da variação da produtividade de grãos foram explicados, fenotipicamente, pelas variáveis consideradas na análise de trilha evidenciando a complexidade da seleção para tolerância à seca em arroz.

Association mapping for yield and grain quality traits in rice (Oryza sativa L. )

Association analysis was applied to a panel of accessions of Embrapa Rice Core Collection (ERiCC) with 86 SSR and field data from two experiments. A clear subdivision between lowland and upland accessions was apparent, thereby indicating the presence of population structure. Thirty-two accessions with admixed ancestry were identified through structure analysis, these being discarded from association analysis, thus leaving 210 accessions subdivided into two panels. The association of yield and grain-quality traits with SSR was undertaken with a mixed linear model, with markers and subpopulation as fixed factors, and kinship matrix as a random factor. Eight markers from the two appraised panels showed significant association with four different traits, although only one (RM190) maintained the marker-trait association across years and cultivation. The significant association detected between amylose content and RM190 was in agreement with previous QTL analyses in the literature. Herein, the feasibility of undertaking association analysis in conjunction with germplasm characterization was demonstrated, even when considering low marker density. The high linkage disequilibrium expected in rice lines and cultivars facilitates the detection of marker-trait associations for implementing marker assisted selection, and the mining of alleles related to important traits in germplasm.

Comparative linkage mapping of Oryza glumaepatula and Oryza sativa interspecific crosses based on microsatellite and expressed sequence tag markers

Molecular linkage maps representing the rice genome have been an important tool for breeding programs because they allow the elucidation of polygenic traits and are an efficient tool for monitoring wild introgressions in interspecific crosses. Common markers among rice genetic maps are important in defining the homology of chromosomes and the synteny between genomic target regions. We used 148 markers (expressed sequence tags, microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms) to construct a molecular linkage map based on co-dominant markers for an interspecific backcross population using a wild rice (Oryza glumaepatula) from Brazil and performed a comparative analysis with other interspecific maps. The comparative analysis revealed a Spearman correlation index of 0.86 for marker order conservation to a previous map constructed for an interspecific cross using the same wild parent. Approximately 90 percent of markers common to other interspecific maps kept the same order. These results indicate that it will be possible to generate a unique genetic map using the wild donor and that it may be a helpful tool for breeding programs because plants derived from different interspecific populations can be rapidly scanned using markers associated with useful wild traits.

Determination of genetic variability of traditional varieties of Brazilian rice using microsatellite markers

The rice (Oryza sativa) breeding program of the Rice and Bean research center of the Brazilian agricultural company Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) is well established and provides new cultivars every year to attend the demand for improved high yielding varieties with tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the elite genitors used to compose new populations for selection are closely related, contributing to the yield plateau reached in the last 20 years. To overcome this limit, it is necessary to broaden the genetic basis of the cultivars using diverse germplasm such as wild relatives or traditional varieties, with the latter being more practical because they are more easily crossed with elite germplasm to accelerate the recovery of modern plant types in the breeding lines. The objective of our study was to characterize the allelic diversity of 192 traditional varieties of Brazilian rice using 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR or microsatellite) markers. The germplasm was divided into 39 groups by common name similarity. A total of 176 alleles were detected, 30 of which (from 23 accessions) were exclusive. The number of alleles per marker ranged from 6 to 22, with an average of 14.6 alleles per locus. We identified 16 accessions as a mixture of pure lines or heterozygous plants. Dendrogram analysis identified six clusters of identical accessions with different common names and just one cluster with identical accessions with the same common name, indicating that SSR markers are fundamental to determining the genetic relationship between landraces. A subset of 24 landraces, representatives of the 13 similarity groups plus the 11 accessions not grouped, was the most variable set of genotypes analyzed. These accessions can be used as genitors to increase the genetic variability available to rice breeding programs.