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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2025, Vol. 24 Issue (3): 1030-1043    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.12.016
Crop Science Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Reasonable dry cultivation methods can balance the yield and grain quality of rice

Jia Wu, Luqi Zhang, Ziyi Wang, Fan Ge, Hao Zhang, Jianchang Yang, Yajie Zhang#

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology, Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

 Highlights 
Dry cultivation, especially with plastic film mulching, improves water use efficiency and rice quality without reducing yield.
Plastic film mulching cultivation could improve the Q-enzyme activity and average filling rate of grains after flowering.
Reasonable dry cultivation methods increase grain protein content and improve protein quality, supporting sustainable production.
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摘要  

在不影响粮食产量和质量的情况下,减少中国水稻生产的用水量是一项重要挑战。本研究的目的是探讨不同的旱作方式是否可以在平衡产量的同时提高水稻品质,以实现水稻可持续生产。在大田分别设置了地膜覆盖旱作(PFMC)、裸地旱作(BC)和连续淹水栽培(CF)三种方法栽种粳型旱稻品种和粳型水稻品种。结果表明,PFMC和BC方式下陆稻产量没有显著差异,PFMC和CF方式下水稻产量没有显著差异。与CF相比,BC方式下陆稻和水稻的产量均显著下降。旱作方式,尤其是PFMC方式可以降低活跃灌浆期、垩白率、垩白度、直链淀粉含量、胶稠度、崩解值、谷蛋白与醇溶蛋白之比、延缓叶片衰老,提高水分利用效率、蛋白质组分含量、消碱值、籽粒Q酶活性和平均灌浆速率。与水稻相比,陆稻产量较低,活跃灌浆期较短,垩白粒率和凝胶稠度较低,直链淀粉含量、崩解值、蛋白质组分含量和平均灌浆速率较高。稻米Q酶活性和灌浆参数与稻米品质相关密切。合理的旱作方式可以平衡产量和稻米品质,特别能提高稻米营养和外观品质。



Abstract  

Reducing water consumption in rice production in China without affecting grain yield and quality is a significant challenge.  This study explored how various dry cultivation methods could improve rice quality while balancing yield to maintain sustainable rice production.  A japonica upland rice cultivar and a japonica paddy rice cultivar were cultivated in the field with three cultivation methods: plastic film mulching dry cultivation (PFMC), bare dry cultivation (BC), and continuous flooding cultivation (CF) as control.  There was no significant difference in upland rice yield between PFMC and BC, nor in paddy rice yield between PFMC and CF.  Compared with CF, the two varieties’ yields decreased significantly with BC.  Dry cultivation, especially PFMC, could decrease the active filling period, chalky rice rate, chalkiness, amylose content, gel consistency, breakdown viscosity, the ratio of glutelin to prolamin, and leaf senescence while increasing water use efficiency, protein components content, setback viscosity, grain starch branching enzyme (Q-enzyme) activity, and average filling rate.  Compared with paddy rice, upland rice had a lower yield, shorter active filling period, lower chalkiness grain rate and gel consistency, higher amylose content, breakdown viscosity, protein components content, and average filling rate.  Grain Q-enzyme activity and grain-filling parameters were closely related to rice quality.  Reasonable dry cultivation methods could balance yield and quality, especially by improving rice’s nutritional and appearance quality.  

Keywords:  rice       dry cultivation        grain quality        yield        protein components        grain filling  
Received: 24 August 2023   Accepted: 17 November 2023
Fund: 
We are grateful for grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD2300304), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671617), and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), China.
About author:  Jia Wu, E-mail: 2574506497@qq.com; #Correspondence Yajie Zhang, Tel: +86-514-87979361, Fax: +86-514-87979276, E-mail: yjzhang@yzu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Jia Wu, Luqi Zhang, Ziyi Wang, Fan Ge, Hao Zhang, Jianchang Yang, Yajie Zhang. 2025. Reasonable dry cultivation methods can balance the yield and grain quality of rice. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(3): 1030-1043.

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