Quantification of Soil-surface Roots in Seedlings and Mature Rice Plants

Eiko Hanzawa; Yuka Kitomi; Yusaku Uga; Tadashi Sato

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.4409

Quantification of Soil-surface Roots in Seedlings and Mature Rice Plants

Bio Protoc. 2022 May 5;12(9):e4409. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.4409.

Authors

Eiko Hanzawa¹, Yuka Kitomi², Yusaku Uga², Tadashi Sato³

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 980-8577 Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
² Institute of Crop Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 305-8518 Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 980-8572 Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Abstract

Soil-surface roots (SORs) in rice are primary roots that elongate over or near the soil surface. SORs help avoid excessive reduction of stress that occurs in paddy, such as in saline conditions. SORs may also be beneficial for rice growth in phosphorus-deficient paddy fields. Thus, SOR is a useful trait for crop adaptation to certain environmental stresses. To identify a promising genetic material showing SOR, we established methods for evaluating SOR under different growth conditions. We introduced procedures to evaluate the genetic diversity of SOR in various growth stages and conditions: the Cup method allowed us to quantify SOR at the seedling stage, and the Basket method, using a basket buried in a pot or field, is useful in quantifying SOR at the adult stage. These protocols are expected to contribute not only to the evaluation of the genetic diversity of SOR, but also the isolation of related genes in rice.

Keywords: Gene isolation; Genetic diversity; Quantitative trait locus; Rice; Root system architecture; Soil-surface roots.