Effects of Sugary and Shrunken Mutant Genes on Carbohydrates in Rice Endosperm during Ripenning Period

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine content of sugars, water soluble polysaccharides (WSP) and starch during the first 4 weeks after pollination of sugary. (su) and shrunken (shr-1s, shr-1a and shr-2) mutants of rice. The content of reducing sugars and sucrose in shr-1s, shr-1a and shr-2 mutants was high through early stages of endosperm development. Sugary mutant possessed higher WSP than the other mutants. Starch content in su, shr-1a and shr-2 reduced to about one-half of the parent cultivar. The starch reduction in shr-1s genotype was in-between the other mutant lines and the parent cultivar. These results indicated that the three loci affect carbohydrate production in the endosperm of rice.