The influence of exogenous cytokinin on the productivity of rice mutant cultivars

• Grant number: 17/01743-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: February 02, 2018
• End date: February 01, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Alexandre Costa Crusciol
• Grantee: Cleiton José Alves
• Supervisor: Joseph J. Kieber
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/26660-2 - Cytokinin influence in productive and physiological aspects of upland rice, BP.DR

Abstract

Upland rice is gaining importance worldwide in agriculture because is a form of cultivation with low consumption of water for irrigation. Rice is very responsive to the action of growth regulators. Cytokinin is a phytohormone that plays many roles in plants, including cell division and expansion, establishment of sink activity, mobilization of nutrients and photoassimilates, increase in photosynthetic capacity, the regulation of development, and biotic and abiotic interactions. The objective of this study is to verify if the application of exogenous cytokinin change the physiological effects and increases the productivity of rice mutant plants due to changes in gene expression related to cytokinin biosynthesis. The experiment will be conducted under controlled conditions in a greenhouse in the Biology Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The experimental design will be a randomized block with three replications, using 50 cm x 10 cm x 20 cm pots with eight plants each. Treatments will consist of thidiazuron application (2.4 µM) during the tillering stage in wild-type and mutant rice cultivars altered in cytokinin function. Biometric components and yield of rice mutants will also be evaluated. It is expected that the results of this study can reveal the effects of exogenous cytokinin on gene expression linked to cytokinin activity in plants. Thus, obtaining information may elucidate the action of plant growth regulators in upland rice. (AU)