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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1537378
This article is part of the Research Topic From Genes to Grains: Advancements in Understanding Seed Development and Grain Filling View all 3 articles

The near-optimal adjustment of carbon and nitrogen allocations into different organs in early-season rice cultivars with drastically different yield components under nitrogen application

Provisionally accepted
Wen Ning Wen Ning 1Lin Su Lin Su 1Dandan Shi Dandan Shi 1Meina Ji Meina Ji 1Xiang Ouyang Xiang Ouyang 1Qingfeng Song Qingfeng Song 2Caihong Shao Caihong Shao 3Xinguang Zhu Xinguang Zhu 2Shuoqi Chang Shuoqi Chang 1*
  • 1 Hunan Hybrid Rice Research, Changsha, China
  • 2 National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
  • 3 Institute of Soil Fertilizer and Resources Environment, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Optimized photosynthesis and transport of photosynthate from the upper three leaves in a rice plant is critical for yield formation in rice. In this study, we selected two high-yielding early-season rice cultivars, i.e. a large-panicle inbred rice Zhongzao39 (ZZ39) and a plural-panicle hybrid rice Lingliangyou268 (LLY268) with high effective panicle number, to study the translocation of photosynthate from the flag and the basipetal 2 nd leaves to the other organs under different nitrogen application scenarios. 13 CO2 labeling was study the proportion of newly assimilated carbon partitioned into different organs.Results demonstrate that the ratio that 13 C assimilated in the flag leaves and the basipetal 2 nd leaves, and the distribution ratio 13 C in the organs of ZZ39 and LLY268 cultivars were not affected by nitrogen application. However, at the booting stage, the translocation rate of photosynthate was slower under N150 compared with CK in both flag and the basipetal 2 nd leaves labeled with 13 C. At the grain filling stage, an average of 51% of photosynthetic products labeled with 13 C was translocated to the panicle in both cultivars under CK treatment; in contrast, only 43% of leaf photosynthate was translocated to panicles in the N150 treatment. At maturity, the photosynthate labeled with 13 C distribution ratio in the panicle was greater in the basipetal 2 nd leaves than in the flag leaves for ZZ39, whereas the opposite was observed in LLY268. These different photosynthate allocation patterns and their responses to nitrogen application were linked with their corresponding tiller number and number of grains per panicle. This study shows that early-season rice has the ability to flexibly adapt their carbon and nitrogen allocation patterns to gain optimized yield components for higher yield under different nitrogen status. Early season rice can be used as a model system to study the growth strategy selection of plants to changing environment conditions.

    Keywords: Early-season rice, Photosynthesis, 13 C labeling, Carbon and nitrogen accumulation, Grain yield (GY)

    Received: 30 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ning, Su, Shi, Ji, Ouyang, Song, Shao, Zhu and Chang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shuoqi Chang, Hunan Hybrid Rice Research, Changsha, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.