The outcrossing traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.) affect the yield of hybrid seed production. Using a cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) line with good outcrossing traits, such as short flag leaf length (FLL), narrow flag leaf width (FLW), wide flag leaf angle (FLA), and elongated panicle neck length (PNL), for hybrid rice seed production, it is possible to avoid the procedure of cutting flag leaves and make the supplementary pollination feasible by machine. In this study, a japonica restorer C-bao as the receptor parent and a primitive japonica accession Ludao as the donor parent were used to construct a chromosome segment substitution line (CSSL) population. The CSSL population was used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for the four outcrossing traits using a likelihood ratio test based on the stepwise regression (RSTEP-LRT) method. The CSSL population constructed consisted of 163 lines covering 90.7% of the donor genome. Among the seven QTLs detected in the CSSL population, four QTLs were detected in both years. qFLL-4 explained 6.70% of the two-year-averaged phenotypic variance, and the alleles from Ludao decreased FLL 5.1 cm. qFLA-1.1 and qFLA-1.2 explained 7.85% and 21.29% of the 2-year-averaged phenotypic variance respectively, and the alleles from Ludao increased FLA 17.38° and 31.50°. qPNL-8 explained 8.87% of the 2-year-averaged phenotypic variance, and the alleles from Ludao increased PNL 4.44 cm. These favorable alleles identified could be used to improve the outcrossing traits of parents for hybrid rice seed production in rice.

Soil salinity is one of the most distressing ecological stresses which reduces the agrarian production. However, the impact of salinity varies among species and genotypes. The experiment tested the salt tolerance of ten rice genotypes including, four aromatic (DR-67, Latifee, Super Basmati and DR-66) and six non-aromatic genotypes (DR-92, DR-51, IR-6 Shahkar, NIA-19A and Shua-92 check). The study used two factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with four salinity levels (T1-2.3 (control), T2-6.0, T3-9.1 and T4-12.8 EC dS m-1), at Green house, Department of Botany, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur. Initially, a nursery of all genotypes was developed in a normal soil. The seedlings (25 days old) were transplanted into pots filled with 10 kg air of dried soil. Each pot contained one plant hill-1 and three hills pot-1. The recommended rate of NPK (160:90:37 kg ha-1) fertilizer was used. The results indicated that almost all agro-morphological traits like shoot height, root length, total tiller numbers and productive tiller numbers, total number of filled grains, 1000 grains weight, spikelet fertility percentage root and shoot dry weight, and harvest index percentage were reduced significantly with a rise in salt concentrations. Genotypes DR-92, DR-51 and IR-6 accumulated less sodium (Na+), more potassium (K+) and had higher K+/Na+ ratio in straw and grain samples hence were less affected against all salinity levels as compared to other rice genotypes. On contrary, genotypes Super Basmati and DR-66 showed meager performance regarding all tested traits against all salinity levels.

Solitary and primitively eusocial bees, an important group of pollinators, have declined in the past few decades. In view of the recent focus on safeguarding pollinating insects, it is vital to understand the basic ecology of species for their conservation, for example their phenologies. We observed the flight periods of solitary and primitively eusocial bees in both the urban core of a large British town and nearby nature conservation areas. The bee surveys were conducted with standardised methods, on warm sunny days from the first appearance of bees in March 2012 and continued until October 2012. This study confirmed that a high number of species are active in the spring season. The emergence dates of species in urban areas and nature sites varied; about 26 of the 35 species were recorded at least one week earlier in urban areas; in contrast, only four species were seen earlier in nature conservation sites. When comparing this with the expected flight periods recorded (largely in nature sites) in the literature, many species were recorded at their expected time. However, a few individuals were recorded after their usual flight activity time, suggesting that the populations were possibly affected by the microclimate in urban areas. More urban phenological data are needed to understand the phenological trends in bees in urban habitats.