Effect of Transplanting Date on Agronomic and Grain Quality Traits Using Early-Maturing Rice Varieties

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how transplanting date affects the agronomic and grain quality traits of two early-maturing rice varieties. The experiment was conducted in the rice research field of Chungnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services in South Korea and rice materials were transplanted at intervals of approximately 15 days from 16 April to 16 July in 2019 and 2020. Results showed that agronomic and grain quality traits varied according to the transplanting date and earlier transplanting resulted in a longer period of days from transplanting to heading (DTH). The spikelet number m−2 was highly correlated with the milled rice yield (r = 0.963 ** for Jinbuol, r = 0.909 ** for Yeoreumi) and it significantly decreased as the transplanting date was delayed, which was leading to lower yield. The mean temperature during the grain filling stage had a negative correlation with head rice rate (r2 = 0.825 ** for Jinbuol, r2 = 0.803 ** for Yeoreumi) and the number of days from transplanting to heading showed negative correlation with protein content (r2 = 0.777 ** for Jinbuol, r2 = 0.833 ** for Yeoreumi). Therefore, increasing the number of days from transplanting to heading date can lead to higher milled rice yield and lower protein content and avoiding heading dates on 17 July can improve the appearance traits. As a result, it is suggested that early transplanting is advantageous to increase the milled rice yield and grain quality of early-maturing rice.