Growth responses of drought resistant rice cultivars to soil compaction under irrigated and succeeding nonirrigated conditions during the vegetative stage

Abstract

We investigated whether drought resistant rice cultivars exhibit higher dry-matter production under wet and dry compacted soil conditions in the vegetative stage and determined the dominant factors governing resistance to soil compaction. Three rice cultivars, a drought-sensitive Nipponbare, and drought-resistant Senshou and Dular, were grown in pots at four soil bulk densities (SBD) ranging from 1300 to 1600 dry soil kg m~3. Root and shoot dry matter productions was slightly smaller in Nipponbare over the 29 days after sowing under irrigated conditions than in the other cultivars at all SBDs. Senshou and Dular also maintained a higher dry matter production, both in relative and absolute values, than Nipponbare under the condition of withheld irrigation from days 29-39 after sowing. The higher stomatal conductance and leaf water potential of these two cultivars were supported by a larger root system which was mostly accompanied by lower top-root ratios in the irrigated and compacted soils. The higher plant growth rate under the non-irrigated condition might have been a result of both the higher water absorption rate and water use efficiency, which in turn were supported by the larger root biomass. We conclude that the ability of rice to rapidly develop a root system in the early vegetative phase under compacted soils facilitates plant production under subsequent soil desiccated conditions.