Variation in Yield and Physicochemical Quality Traits among Mutants of Japonica Rice Cultivar Wuyujing 3

To select elite germplasms, 112 mutants derived from japonica rice cultivar Wuyujing 3 were evaluated. The yield components such as panicle number per square meter, grain number per panicle, and grain weight were measured. The quality traits such as percentage of chalky grains (PCG), brown rice yield (BRY), milled rice yield (MRY), degree of milling (DM), amylose content (AC), protein content (PC), and relationships among traits were inverstigated. Results showed that grain yield ranged from 2.15 to 12.49 t/hm2 with a mean of 6.4 t/hm2 and number of grains per square meter contributed for 94.64% in grain yield variation. For quality traits, all rice mutants had short size (grain length ≤ 5.5 mm) and bold shape (grain length to width ratio = 1.10–2.00). Most of rice mutants (87.5%) had PCG values below 20%. All mutants had MRY values above 50%, AC values below 20%, and PC values below 10%. Percentage of chalky grains was significantly negatively correlated with MRY and positively correlated with DM. BRY and MRY were significantly negatively correlated with DM. PC was significantly and positively correlated with MRY and negatively correlated with DM, while AC had no significant correlation with these quality traits. It was concluded that there were 25 rice mutants which fulfilled the major requirements of Jiangsu standard japonica rice such as low percentage of chalky grains, low amylose content, optimal protein content, and which could be used as elite germplasms. Thus the mutants identified may lead to significant progress in improvement of rice quality.