Effect of spikelet removal on the grain filling of Akenohoshi, a rice cultivar with numerous spikelets in a panicle

The Japanese rice cultivar, Akenohoshi, has numerous spikelets in a panicle (extra-heavy panicle type) and achieves a large yield sink capacity. However, this cultivar, as well as other extra-heavy panicle types, does not always produce higher yields because of poor grain filling of the spikelets on the secondary branches in a panicle. To determine whether the poor grain filling found in Akenohoshi was due to source-limited or sink-limited conditions, the present study examined the responses of grain-filling characteristics to several spikelet-removal treatments immediately after heading. Only when the spikelets on secondary branches remained was a significant increase in filled grain percentage in this spikelet position observed. This increase seemed to be associated with the increases in rate and duration of the grain-filling process and in single grain weight in this spikelet position. These results clearly indicate that the poor grain filling in the spikelet on secondary branches of Akenohoshi could mainly be attributed not to sink-limited conditions, but to source-limited conditions probably at specific stages of grain filling.