Rice Cultivation and Physiology

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Crop Biology and Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2025 | Viewed by 3209

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
China National Rice Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310006, China
Interests: rice; cultivation; grain yield; crop physiology; root; grain filling

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Guest Editor
China National Rice Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310006, China
Interests: rice; paddy field; soil properties; nitrogen use efficiency

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Guest Editor
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, Hertfordshire, UK
Interests: site-specific nutrient recommendation for rice; direct seeding as a crop establishment method for reduced risk; post-rice crops for system intensification; bioenergy/biochar technologies for rice-based systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The continuous optimization of cultivation measures has shown excellent improvements in crop products and significant enhancements in cropland quality. Studying the laws of rice growth, development, yield, and quality formation, as well as the physiological mechanisms behind them, achieving the synergistic development of high-yielding, high-quality, efficient rice and sustainable development in agriculture is a hot and challenging topic in rice cultivation research. Based on the above, we initiated a Special Issue in Agronomy on "Rice Cultivation and Physiology", which will focus on the following:

  1. The physiological basis of rice cultivation;
  2. Physiological mechanisms of high-yielding and efficient rice;
  3. Techniques for high-yielding and efficient regulation of fertilizer and water in rice cultivation;
  4. Cultivation measures for synergistic development of rice quality and soil quality.

Dr. Guang Chu
Dr. Kai Yu
Dr. Stephan M Haefele
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • rice
  • cultivation
  • physiology
  • grain yield
  • nitrogen use efficiency
  • water use efficiency
  • soil quality

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 15316 KiB  
Article
Evaluating the Adaptability and Sustainability of Different Straw Incorporation Strategies in Northeastern China: Impacts on Rice Yield Formation, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Temporal Soil Nutrient Dynamics
by Yuanyuan Sun, Bida Ren, Chang Liu, Bingchun Yan, Li Lin, Yanze Zhao, Hai Xu, Wenzhong Zhang, Xiaoyi Cheng and Xiaori Han
Agronomy 2025, 15(3), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15030729 - 18 Mar 2025
Viewed by 258
Abstract
Straw incorporation effectively improves soil fertility and crop yield, and its adaptation to single-season rice production in cold temperate regions is a current research focus. This study conducted a two-year continuous in situ field experiment with four treatments: no straw incorporation (CK), straw [...] Read more.
Straw incorporation effectively improves soil fertility and crop yield, and its adaptation to single-season rice production in cold temperate regions is a current research focus. This study conducted a two-year continuous in situ field experiment with four treatments: no straw incorporation (CK), straw incorporation with autumn rotary tillage (SC), straw incorporation with autumn plowing (SH), and straw incorporation with spring rotary tillage (ST). This study investigated the effects of straw incorporation on rice growth and the soil environment to understand the soil-crop interactions and their impact on rice yield. The results indicate that in the single-season rice production system of Northeast China, straw incorporation reduces the number of tillers, dry matter accumulation, and leaf area index in the early rice growth stage but promotes dry matter accumulation in the later stages. Straw incorporation over two consecutive years increased the rice yield by 2.07%, with the SC treatments showing optimal performance. This increased yield could lead to higher economic returns for the farmers. Additionally, straw incorporation potentially increases the total nitrogen and soil organic matter (SOM) content in the topsoil, thus providing environmental benefits by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. Factor analysis reveals that the SC treatments enhances dry matter accumulation by influencing soil nutrient levels in the later rice growth stages, thereby improving rice yield and nitrogen recovery efficiency. By altering soil nutrient availability at different growth stages, different straw incorporation regimes regulate the material production strategy of rice and the ‘source-sink’ relationship. This research provides a theoretical basis for enhancing soil fertility and rice yield in cold temperate regions through improved straw management strategies. These findings support policy initiatives that promote large-scale straw incorporation in commercial rice production for its potential economic and environmental benefits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rice Cultivation and Physiology)
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19 pages, 2666 KiB  
Article
Exogenous N Supply on N Transportation and Reuse during the Rice Grain-Filling Stage and Its Relationship with Leaf Color-Changing Parameters
by Yi Tao, Yanan Xu, Chang Ye, Junlin Zhu, Deshun Xiao, Wenli Liao, Yijun Zhu, Guang Chu, Chunmei Xu and Danying Wang
Agronomy 2024, 14(10), 2321; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14102321 - 9 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 858
Abstract
During the later reproductive period of rice growth, the chlorophyll in the leaves degraded, accompanied by the nitrogen (N) transportation from leaves to panicle, resulting in a change in leaf color from green to yellow. This study aimed to investigate the effects of [...] Read more.
During the later reproductive period of rice growth, the chlorophyll in the leaves degraded, accompanied by the nitrogen (N) transportation from leaves to panicle, resulting in a change in leaf color from green to yellow. This study aimed to investigate the effects of exogenous N supply on leaf color-changing, N accumulation, N transportation, and N loss of indica-japonica hybrid rice during the grain-filling stage. Two indica-japonica hybrid rice cultivars, Chunyou 167 (CY167) and Chunyou 927 (CY927), which exhibited significant differences in leaf color-changing during the grain-filling stage, were selected as materials for field experiment and hydroponic experiment with low, medium, and high N treatments (LN, MN, and HN). The dynamic changes in SPAD value from heading to maturity were measured and fitted with quadratic function to extract leaf color-changing parameters; labeled 15N was used as N source after heading to trace the source of N in the panicle and the remobilization of vegetative organ N. The results showed that 67.37–72.38% of the panicle N was transported from vegetative organs, the N transport efficiency was the upper three leaves > lower leaves > stem, and about 3.1–35.0% of the transported N was lost via volatilization. The effects of exogenous N concentration on N harvest index, N dry matter/grain production efficiency, N reuse efficiency, and N loss were closely related to leaf color-changing parameters. In MN and HN treatment, the N loss was negatively correlated with the onset time of leaf color-changing (T0) and the final leaf color index (CIf), but positively correlated with the leaf color-changing rate (Rmean). Increasing the supply of exogenous N increased T0 and CIf, but decreased Rmean, N transport/reuse efficiency, N harvest index, and N dry matter/grain production efficiency. Compared to the cultivar CY167 with normal leaf color-changing, the “stay-green” cultivar CY927 had higher T0, CIf, and lower Rmean, resulting in less N volatilization loss, lower N harvest index and N transport efficiency, while higher N reuse efficiency. In conclusion, the exogenous N supply affects leaf color by influencing the transportation and reuse of leaf N during the grain-filling stage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rice Cultivation and Physiology)
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18 pages, 2946 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Management of Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels for Yield Values, Photosynthetic Characteristics and Non-Structural Carbohydrates in Rice
by Xiaoe He, Haijun Zhu, Ailong Shi, Weijian Tan and Xuehua Wang
Agronomy 2024, 14(9), 1983; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14091983 - 1 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1522
Abstract
The interaction between the amount and frequencies of nitrogen application has always been a hot issue in improving crop yield and reducing environmental pollution. Photosynthesis and non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) play an important role in the formation of rice yield. However, the research on [...] Read more.
The interaction between the amount and frequencies of nitrogen application has always been a hot issue in improving crop yield and reducing environmental pollution. Photosynthesis and non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) play an important role in the formation of rice yield. However, the research on photosynthetic characteristics and NSCs under nitrogen fertilizer management on rice yield is still insufficient. This work was a two-year field trial in China’s Hunan Province in 2020–2021. To analyze the photosynthetic characteristics and NSCs of the hybrid rice “Zhu Liangyou 819” (ZLY819), the experiment was set up with N application frequencies, specifically P1 (basal-tiller fertilizer at a ratio of 5:5), P2 (basal-tiller-spike fertilizer at a ratio of 4:3:3), and P3 (basal-tiller-spike-grain fertilizer at a ratio of 4:3:2:1). Additionally, three distinct amounts of N applications were utilized: N1 (90 kg ha−1), N2 (150 kg ha−1), and N3 (210 kg ha−1). The findings indicated that under the same N application amount, N2 increased the effective spike by 9.32–17.80% and the number of grains per spike by 12.21–13.28% compared with N1. Under the same N application frequency, P3 had the highest effective number of spikes and number of grains per spike, which were 320.83 × 104 ha−1 and 113.99–119.81, respectively. Under the same N application amount, the SPAD and photosynthetic rate (Pn) of N2 at the heading stage were increased by 5.61–5.68% and 11.73–13.81%, respectively, compared with that of N1; and at the maturity stage, the SPAD of N2 was increased by 14.79–17.21%. At the same N application frequency, SPAD and Pn were 5.40–6.78% and 4.70–12.85% higher in P3 compared to P1, respectively, at the heading stage. At maturity, SPAD showed 14.59–15.64% higher values in P3 compared to P1. The photosynthetically active radiations (PAR) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of ZLY819 obtained the highest values under N2 or N3 as the differences between these both were nonsignificant. PAR and RUE tended to increase with the increase in the application frequency. NSC accumulation, output, and contribution rate to grains all exhibited a pattern of initial increase followed by a subsequent decline in response to escalating nitrogen application, i.e., it was highest under N2 treatment. A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between rice yield and effective number of spikes, number of grains per spike, SPAD, Pn RUE, output of NSCs, and contribution rate to grains. Appropriate amount and frequency of N application (P3N2) can significantly improve photosynthetic characteristics and NSCs of rice, thus increasing rice yield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rice Cultivation and Physiology)
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