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ARTICLE

Effects of Exogenous α-Ketoglutaric Acid on 2-Acetyl-1-Pyrroline, Yield Formation and Grain Quality Characters of Aromatic Rice

Bin Du¹, Qixia Wu¹, Shuochen Jiang¹, Dingyue Zhang¹, Yue Qiao¹, Yimei Xie², Jianlong Xu^3,*, Jianqiang Zhu^1,*

1 College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434023, China
2 National Selenium-Rich Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, Enshi, 434023, China
3 Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

* Corresponding Authors: Jianlong Xu. Email: ; Jianqiang Zhu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Physiology for Crop Production and Sustainable Agriculture)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(2), 437-447. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.012903

Received 17 July 2020; Accepted 25 August 2020; Issue published 07 February 2021

Abstract

The improvement of grain quality in aromatic rice is very important for farmer to increase their income. Present study was conducted with a two-year field experiment and three aromatic rice cultivars in order to study the effects of exogenous α-ketoglutaric acid on yield formation, grain quality characters and the biosynthesis of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP, key component of aromatic rice’s fragrance) in aromatic rice. At heading stage, 0.50 mmol L^–1 (T1) and 1.00 mmol L^–1 (T2) α-ketoglutaric acid solutions were overhead sprinkle to aromatic rice plants, respectively while the treatment which was overhead sprinkled with distilled water was set as control (CK). The results showed that 17.34%–33.04% and 21.39%–34.74% higher grain 2-AP contents were recorded in T1 and T2 treatments, respectively. Compared with CK, T1 and T2 treatments significantly reduced the transcript level of gene BADH2 which is related to the 2-AP biosynthesis in aromatic rice. 3.86%–7.51% higher grain protein contents and 1.15%–3.37% higher head rice rates were also recorded in α-ketoglutaric acid treatments than CK. Moreover, T1 and T2 treatments remarkably decreased the chalky rice rate, chalkiness and grain amylose content. However, there was no remarkable difference in grain yield and related trails (effective panicle number, grain number per panicle, seed-setting rate and 1000-grain weight) among CK, T1 and T2 treatments. In conclusion, application of exogenous α-ketoglutaric acid enhanced 2-AP biosynthesis and improved grain quality of aromatic rice.

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