Identification of Low Cadmium Accumulation and Drought Tolerance in Rice Germplasm and Gene Mining
Received date: 2025-09-27
Online published: 2026-01-13
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a globally important cereal crop, and the stability of its yield and grain quality plays a crucial role in ensuring food security. However, soil cadmium (Cd) contamination caused by human activities, together with drought stress induced by global climate change, pose serious threats to normal rice growth, adversely affecting both productivity and quality. To effectively address these challenges, we evaluated Cd accumulation capacity and drought tolerance of more than 500 rice germplasm accessions, and performed genotyping using a 50K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip. In this study, 23 rice lines with low Cd accumulation were successfully identified; when grown in field conditions with high Cd contamination, their grain Cd concentrations remained consistently below 0.1 mg/kg. Meanwhile, 22 rice lines exhibiting superior drought tolerance were selected, as they maintained survival after a prolonged drought treatment lasting for one month. To further elucidate the genetic basis underlying Cd accumulation and drought tolerance in rice, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted, leading to the identification of three quantitative trait loci (QTLs) significantly associated with grain Cd content and four QTLs strongly linked to drought tolerance. The low-Cd and drought-tolerant germplasms identified in this study, along with the precisely mapped gene locis related to these traits, provide valuable materials and a theoretical foundation for in-depth genetic research on rice, and lay a solid groundwork for future breeding applications.
Key words： rice; cadmium accumulation; drought tolerance; germplasm resources; gene mapping
LI Zhouwei, YIN Qianyu, YE Changrong, CHENG Jihua, WANG Sizhe, CHEN Hailong, LI Changhong, ZHANG Yan, LONG Yu, CAI Shanshan, WU Yuntian, JIA Gaofeng, TIAN Bingchuan . Identification of Low Cadmium Accumulation and Drought Tolerance in Rice Germplasm and Gene Mining[J]. China Rice, 2026 , 32(1) : 20 -25 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-8082.2026.01.005
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