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Research Article
ScienceAsia 30 (2004): 301-311 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2004.30.301
Proline Accumulation and Rooting Patterns in Rice in
Response to Water Deficit under Rainfed Lowlands
Soraya Uyprasert,a Teerayut Toojinda,b Nawarat Udomprasert,a Somvong Tragoonrungb and
Apichart Vanavichit,a*
ABSTRACT: Drought is a major impediment to a rainfed lowland rice system. Drought tolerance has been
associated with proline accumulation in roots and leaves. However, genetic linkage was uncertain. To
determine if there is a genetic correlation between proline accumulation and drought tolerance; a total of 220
double haploid lines, their parents (CT9993 and IR62266), and three standard checks (IR20, NSG19 and
KDML105) were used in experiments to determine the extent of genetic variation in root characters, proline
accumulation, relative water content, visual leaf rolling and drought injury under different intensities of
water deficit. Genotypes with high proline content in leaf tissues were more dehydration tolerant, a relatively
high water content was maintained, and leaf rolling and senescence were delayed under severe water deficit.
However, the ability of rice roots to penetrate deep into the soil was negatively correlated with proline
accumulation in leaf tissue. Rice roots are mostly distributed at 0-30 cm soil depth under lowland conditions.
Therefore, the ultimate goal to combine high dehydration tolerance with strong root penetration may not be
realized in the existing germplasm.
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a Department of Agronomy, Kasetsart University, Kamphangsaen Campus, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
b Rice Gene Discovery Unit, BIOTEC, National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,
Kasetsart University, Kamphangsaen Campus, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
* Corresponding author, E-mail: Apichart@dna.kps.ku.ac.th
Received 13 Jan 2004,
Accepted 3 Aug 2004
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