2011 Volume 61 Issue 2 Pages 196-200
Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for low cadmium concentration in brown rice were analyzed in 2008 and 2009 using 126 RIL (F6 and F7 plants) grown in a paddy field with high Cd concentration, which were derived from a cross between a high yielding Japanese rice cultivar ‘Fukuhibiki’ and an African upland rice cultivar ‘LAC23’ with the lowest cadmium concentration in rice grains. Totally two QTLs controlling low cadmium concentration in grains were identified in both 2008 and 2009, i.e., one on chromosome 3 (qLCdG3) and one on chromosome 11 (qLCdG11), which had opposite additive effects. In qLCdG11, ‘LAC23’ alleles had the effect of reducing cadmium concentration, but qLCdG3 had the opposite effect. The explained phenotypic variances of qLCdG11 were 9.4% in 2008 and 12.9% in 2009, and those of qLCdG3 were 13.9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009. Cadmium concentrations in brown rice showed positive correlations with grain length and grain weight. QTLs for grain length and grain weight were detected on chromosomes 3 and 11, but their positions differed from those for cadmium concentrations. These results suggest a possibility of successful marker-assisted selection of low cadmium trait derived from ‘LAC23’.
