Effect of reduced plant height on drought tolerance in rice.

Drought stress due to water deficit is a major problem of rice cultivation as a most drought-sensitive crop plant. A rice mutant line (MT58) was developed after mutagenesis of cv. Neda by ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) and selected for dwarfism (18 cm shorter than Neda). The extent of its molecular changes relative to parental cultivar was assessed by SSR and ISSR markers, and the response of the line along with parental cultivar and another mutant line (MTA) to mild and severe water deficit, was evaluated in a field experiment. A molecular assessment using 41 SSR markers showed that dwarf line MT58 had significant molecular difference with two other lines. ISSR assay also proved the considerable mutational effect of EMS on two mutant lines compared with the original wild line. Field experiments revealed that limited irrigation caused mild-to-severe decrease in all the studied traits, including chlorophyll contents. In mild water-stress mutant line, MT58 showed a low (3 %) yield loss as compared with cultivar Neda with a high (14 %) yield loss. Interestingly, in severe water-stress mutant line, MT58 showed a low (19 %) yield loss as compared with mutant line MTA and cv. Neda with high (33 and 31 %, respectively) yield loss. In severe stress, mutant MT58 had the highest values of panicle length, total kernels per panicle, fertile kernels, and chlorophyll contents, while cv. Neda had the highest values of plant height, tiller number, and plant yield, and reduction in chlorophyll content at drought stress condition was correlated with yield loss (0.64 and 0.697 for chl.a and chl.b, respectively). The results of this research obviously confirm that mutant line MT58 despite of its stunt figure shows a low yield loss due to drought stress and hence is a promising line for cultivation under drought condition.