Nitrogen acquisition and its relation to growth and yield in recent high-yielding cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Japan

Figures & data

Table 1 Grain yield, total dry matter, ratio of grain yield to total dry matter, and total plant nitrogen (N) content in recent and old high-yielding cultivars and reference cultivars of rice plants grown with high levels of N supply

Year	Cultivar	Grain yield (brown rice) (t ha^−1)	Total dry matter (t ha^−1)	Ratio of grain yield to total dry matter	Total plant N (kg ha^−1)	Location
2000	Akita 63	9.83 (129)	19.12 (95)	0.51 (134)	161 (101)	Akita Pref.
	Yukigesyou	7.63 (100)	20.03 (100)	0.38 (100)	159 (100)	Akita Pref.
2001	Akita 63	9.39 (123)	20.17 (113)	0.47 (109)	184 (123)	Akita Pref.
	Toyonishiki	7.65 (100)	17.92 (100)	0.43 (100)	149 (100)	Akita Pref.
2008	Takanari	11.61 (169)	23.51 (120)	0.49 (140)	245 (106)	Hiroshima Pref.
	Saikai 198	10.82 (157)	23.90 (122)	0.45 (129)	254 (110)	Hiroshima Pref.
	Nipponbare	6.89 (100)	19.65 (100)	0.35 (100)	231 (100)	Hiroshima Pref.
1994	Fukuhibiki	10.00 (131)^†	21.20 (118)^†	0.47 (109)^†	150 (101)^†	Fukushima Pref.
1975	Akihikari	10.11 (132)^†	20.00 (112)^†	0.51 (119)^†	214 (144)^†	Akita Pre.
1986	Yukigeshou	10.25 (134)^†	25.32 (141)^†	0.41 (95)^†	289 (194)^†	Yamagata Pref.
1960	Ohtori	10.52 (138)^†			177 (119)^†	Akita Pref.
Recent high-yielding cultivars are “Akita 63” (Mae et al. 2006), “Takanari,” “Saikai 198” (Nagata et al. 2009), and “Fukuhibiki” (Teshirogi et al. 1995). Old high-yielding cultivars are “Akihikari” (Kamata et al. 1978), “Yukigesyou” (Jinbo et al. 1987) and “Ohtori” (Honya 1989). Reference cultivars are “Yukigesyou” (2000), “Toyonishiki” (2001) and “Nipponbare” (2008).
Values in parentheses show the percentage of the value of Yukigesyou (2000), Toyonishiki (2001) or Nipponbare (2008) in respective years. Values in parentheses with ^†show the percentage of the value of Toyonishiki (2001).

Table 2 Yield components and sink capacity in recent and old high-yielding cultivars and reference cultivars of rice plants grown with high levels of nitrogen (N) supply

Year	Cultivar	No. of panicles (m^−2)	No. of spikelets per panicle	Total No. of spikelets (×10^3m^−2)	1000-grain wt (g)	Filled spikelets (%)	Sink capacity^† (g m^−2)
2000	Akita 63	456	91	41.5	31.2	78.5	1293
	Yukigesyou	432	80	34.6	23.1	92.5	800
2001	Akita 63	455	94	42.6	30.6	72.1	1304
	Toyonishiki	436	79	34.1	23.6	95.0	805
2008	Takanari	305	197	60.2	21.2	91.0	1276
	Saikai 198	344	158	54.3	23.4	85.1	1272
	Nipponbare	432	83	35.8	22.4	85.9	802
1994	Fukuhibiki	453	107	48.7	24.3	85.7	1183
1975	Akihikari	603	98	58.9	21.6	86.7	1272
1986	Yukigeshou	515	114	58.7	21.3	82.0	1250
1960	Ohtori	446			24.7	83.3
Recent high-yielding cultivars are “Akita 63” (Mae et al. 2006), “Takanari,” “Saikai 198” (Nagata et al. 2009), and “Fukuhibiki” (Teshirogi et al. 1995). Old high-yielding cultivars are “Akihikari” (Kamata et al. 1978), “Yukigesyou” (Jinbo et al. 1987) and “Ohtori” (Honya 1989). Reference cultivars are “Yukigesyou” (2000), “Toyonishiki” (2001) and “Nipponbare” (2008).
^†Sink capacity = 1000-grain weight (g) × total No. of spikelets per unit land area (m^−2)

Table 3 Nitrogen (N)-use efficiencies for sink formation, dry matter production, and grain production in recent and old high-yielding cultivars and reference cultivars of rice plants grown with high levels of N supply

		N-use efficiency for
Year	Cultivar	Sink formation (kg   kg-N^−1)	Dry matter production (kg kg-N^−1)	Grain production (kg kg-N^−1)
2000	Akita 63	80.3	119	61.1
	Yukigesyou	50.3	126	48.0
2001	Akita 63	70.9	110	51.0
	Toyonishiki	54.0	120	51.3
2008	Takanari	52.1	96	47.4
	Saikai 198	50.1	94	42.6
	Nipponbare	34.7	85	29.8
1994	Fukuhibiki	78.9	141	66.7
1975	Akihikari	59.4	93	47.2
1986	Yukigeshou	43.3	88	35.5
1960	Ohtori			59.4
Recent high-yielding cultivars are “Akita 63” (Mae et al. 2006), “Takanari,” “Saikai 198” (Nagata et al. 2009), and “Fukuhibiki” (Teshirogi et al. 1995). Old high-yielding cultivars are “Akihikari” (Kamata et al. 1978), “Yukigesyou” (Jinbo et al. 1987) and “Ohtori” (Honya 1989). Reference cultivars are “Yukigesyou” (2000), “Toyonishiki” (2001) and “Nipponbare” (2008).
N-use efficiencies for sink formation, dry matter production or grain production were defined as sink capacity, total dry matter or grain yield per unit amount of total plant N, respectively.

Table 4 Total plant nitrogen (N) content, rates of N application, and partial factor productivity of applied N in recent and old high-yielding cultivars and reference cultivars of rice plants grown with high levels of N supply

			Fertilizer-N applied			PFPN ^‡ (kg kg^−1)
Year	Cultivar	Total plant N acquired (kg-N ha^−1)	Basal application (kg-N ha^−1)	Topdressing (kg-N ha^−1)	Total (kg-N ha^−1)
2000	Akita 63	161	20 + 60^†	20 × 4 times	160	61.4
	Yukigesyou	159	20 + 60^†	20 × 4 times	160	47.7
2001	Akita 63	184	40 + 70^†	20 × 2 times	150	62.6
	Toyonishiki	149	40 + 70^†	20 × 2 times	150	51.0
2008	Takanari	245	50	20–30 × 5 times	180	64.5
	Saikai 198	254	50	20–30 × 5 times	180	60.1
	Nippon bare	231	50	20–30 × 5 times	180	38.3
1994	Fukuhibiki	150	80	20 × 2 times	120	88.3
1975	Akihikari	214	70	20 × 3 times	130	77.8
1986	Yukigeshou	289	30 + 70^†	15–20 × 4 times	170	60.3
1960	Ohtori	177	107	0	107	98.3
Recent high-yielding cultivars are “Akita 63” (Mae et al. 2006), “Takanari,” “Saikai 198” (Nagata et al. 2009), and “Fukuhibiki” (Teshirogi et al. 1995). Old high-yielding cultivars are “Akihikari” (Kamata et al. 1978), “Yukigesyou” (Jinbo et al. 1987) and “Ohtori” (Honya 1989). Reference cultivars are “Yukigesyou” (2000), “Toyonishiki” (2001) and “Nipponbare” (2008).
^†The amount of N applied as controlled release fertilizer LP100 Type (polyolefin-coated urea, Chisso Co., Japan). ^‡Partial factor productivity of applied N (kg grain per kg N applied).

Figure 1. Relationship between total dry weight and total plant nitrogen (N) content per unit land area at harvest in Akita 63 and the reference cultivars, Yukigeshou, Toyonishiki and Akitakomachi. (Mae et al. 2006, with permission from Elsevier) ▴: Akita 63 in 2000, •: Akita 63 in 2001, ▪: Akita 63 in 2002, ○: Yukigeshou in 2000, □: Toyonishiki in 2001, ▵: Akitakomachi in 2000 and ⋄: Akitakomachi in 2002.

Figure 2. Relationship between number of spikelets and total plant nitrogen (N) content per unit land area at harvest in Akita 63 and the reference cultivars, Yukigeshou, Toyonishiki and Akitakomachi. (Mae et al. 2006, with permission from Elsevier) Symbols are the same as those in Fig. 1.

Figure 3. Relationship between sink capacity^† and total plant nitrogen (N) content per unit land area at harvest in Akita 63 and the reference cultivars, Yukigeshou, Toyonishiki and Akitakomachi. (Mae et al. 2006, with permission from Elsevier) Symbols are the same as those in Fig. 1. ^†Sink capacity: number of total spikelets per unit land area (m2) × 1000-grain weight of each cultivar.

Figure 4. Relationship between grain yield (brown rice) and total plant nitrogen (N) content per unit land area at harvest in Akita 63 and the reference cultivars, Yukigeshou, Toyonishiki and Akitakomachi. (Mae et al. 2006, with permission from Elsevier) Symbols are the same as those in Fig. 1.

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