Association of Grain Filling Duration and Leaf Activity with the Grain Yield in Field-Grown Temperate Japonica Rice

Improvement in rice grain yield has been approached by means of genetic amendment, cultural management, and environmental adaptation. Subjecting the plant during the grain filling period to an appropriate environment plays a key role in achieving a high grain yield in temperate rice. Field experiments were conducted for two consecutive years with two planting times to assess the relations among grain filling traits, loss of leaf activity during the ripening period, and the grain yield of temperate japonica rice with wide environmental variation. Higher grain yields were attained in 2017 than in 2016 and with late planting than with early planting. The high grain yield accompanied a comparatively lesser increase in grain weight at the early filling stage but more gain in grain weight occurred during the late filling stage. Final grain weight correlated positively with grain filling duration but negatively with grain filling rate. Extended grain filling duration was associated with higher cumulative temperature and cumulative solar radiation for an effective grain filling period. The reduction in SPAD value ${\times}$ leaf dry weight from heading to harvest significantly correlated with final grain dry weight in a positive manner. No significant relation was found between grain filling duration and the decrease in SPAD value ${\times}$ leaf dry weight during the grain filling period. The results suggest that grain filling duration and loss of leaf activity during ripening independently contribute to environmentally induced yield improvement in temperate japonica rice.