Effect of Temperature on Pollen Fertility in Inter-Subspecific Rice Hybrids

Seventeen rice varieties and hybrids of different types (indica, japonica, javanica, indica hybrid, japonica hybrid and inter-subspecific hybrid) were evaluated to determine the effect of temperature on pollen fertility in inter-subspecfic hybrids. The pollen fertility of inter-subspecific hybrids was greatly reduced when average daily temperature dropped to 22.0 － 23.0℃ at meiosis stage, and the extent of pollen fertility reduction varied greatly with respect to different hybrids. However, the pollen fertility reduction of indica and japonica hybrids and conventional varieties was not obvious under the same regime of temperature conditions. When the average daily temperature dropped to 20℃, the pollen development of conventional varieties and hybrids was also affected. Correlation analysis revealed that there existed a positive correlation between pollen fertility and average daily temperature. A significant difference (P<0.01) was also found between the two correlation coefficients i.e. inter-subspecific hybrids and conventional varieties. Temperature at meiosis stage of pollen mother cell was a key factor in pollen developing, and the pollen fertility of inter-subspecific hybrids was more sensitive to low temperature than that of traditional variety.