EFFECTS OF UV-B RADIATION ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF RICE CULTIVARS (ORYZA SATIVA L.).

Elevated near-UV radiation, containing a large amount of UV-B and a small amount of UV-C, inhibited the development of leaves and tillers, the increase in biomass production, the elongation of plant height, the photosynthetic rate and the chlorophyll content in rice plants in a phytotron. Elevated UV-B radiation filtered through cellulose diacetate film or UV-31 cut filter (transmission down to 290 nm) similarly suppressed each growth component above. Near-UV radiation-caused injuries were alleviated either by elevated CO$_2$ atmosphere or by exposure to high irradiance-visible radiation. On the basis of these findings, we examined cultivar differences in the resistance to UV radiation-caused injuries among 198 rice cultivars belonging to 5 Asian rice ecotypes ( aus, aman, boro, bulu and tjeleh) from the Bengal region and Indonesia and to Japanese lowland and upland rice groups. It was shown that .various cultivars having different sensitivities to the effects of near-UV radiation were involved in the same ecotype and the same group, and that the Japanese lowland rice group and the boro ecotype were more resistant. Among Japanese lowland rice cultivars, Sasanishiki (one of the leading varieties in Japan) exhibited more resistance to near-UV radiation, while Norin 1 showed less resistance, although these two cultivars are closely related. It was thus indicated that the resistance to the inhibitory effects of near-UV radiation of rice cultivars is not simply due to the difference in the geographical situation where rice cultivars are cultivated. From the genetic analysis of resistance to the inhibitory effects of UV radiation on growth of rice using F$_2$ plants generated by reciprocally crossing Sasanishiki and Norin 1 and F$_3$ lines generated by self-fertilizing F$_2$ plants, it was evident that the resistance to the inhibitory effects of elevated near-UV radiation in these rice plants was controlled by recessive polygenes.