Characteristics of Pre-harvest Sprouting in Sterile Lines in Hybrid Rice Seeds Production

Abstract

The phenomenon of pre harvest sprouting usually occurs in the production of F 1 and male sterile line seeds of hybrid rice. Percentage of pre harvest sprouting, laboratory germination of newly harvested seeds and α amylase activities of F 1 were investigated, hybridized grown seven sterile lines, PeiAi 64S, XieQingZao A, ZhenShan 97A, K17A, etc. with seventeen restorer lines, Zhong 9308, MingHui 63, Zhong 2070, etc. The results showed that significant differences in percentage and index of F 1 pre harvest sprouting were found among different hybrid combinations. Variation extent of percentage and index of grains sprouting of F 1 from the parents that had lower average percentage and lower index of pre harvest sprouting was smaller than that from the parents that had higher average percentage and higher index of pre harvest sprouting. No significant correlations were observed between the percentage or index of pre harvest sprouting and laboratory germination percentage or germination index or α amylase activity of newly harvested seeds.