Effect of UV Radiation on Early Growth of Korean Rice Cultivars(Oryza sativa L.)

The concerns on the crop damage by ultraviolet (UV) radiations is increasing owing to the decrease of their absorbing stratospheric ozone in the tropospheric. Cultivar differences on early growth of UV radiation among five Korean rice cultivars, four japonica types and one Tongil type (indica-japonica cross hybrid), were studied. Pot-seeded rice plants were grown under four different radiation conditions, i.e., visible radiation only, visible radiation with supplemented with high or low dose of UV-B (280~320 nm in wavelength) and UV-C (less than 280 nm in wavelength). The inhibitory degree on plant height, shoot and root weight and length of leaf blade and leaf sheath were determined at 40 days after seeding. UV-C showed the most severe inhibitory effect on the degree of biomass gain and leaf growth in most cultivars examined, followed by high UV-B and low UV-B. Among the cultivars used, the Kuemobyeo was the most sensitive cultivar and had not repair or showed resistance ability to continued irradiation of UV radiation. However, Janganbyeo and Jaekeon showed different responses that the elongation of leaf blades was promoted on 2nd and 3rd leaves and inhibited on 4th and 5th leaves but this inhibitory degree was reduced on 6 th and 7th leaves. Such tendency on leaf growth means that both cultivars had low sensitivity and most resistant ability to continued irradiation of UV radiation. While Tongil showed different response to enhanced UV radiation, ie., low UV-B promoted leaf growth but the inhibitory was severely increased by continued irradiation of high UV-B and UV-C, which means that Tongil had high threshold of UV radiation for response as an inhibitory light of plant growth. The results of this study indicate that the differences on sensitivity or resistant to the effects of UV radiation were existed among Korean rice cultivars.