Caracterização de genótipos de arroz quanto aos teores de ferro e de zinco nos grãos e identificação de caracteres para a seleção indireta

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most grown and consumed cereals worldwide. It is the basics of the diet of millions, being pointed out as essencial in the biofortification process aiming to combate the malnutrition and the outcomes caused by it. Breeding programs are focusing on genotypes with high yield but also with superior nutricional quality of the grain. The development of cultivars with improved mineral content, especially iron and zinc would expressively contribute for the improvement of the nutritional value of this food. Thus, the present research aimed to identify superior rice genotypes regarding the grain content of iron and zinc and characteristics for indirect selection. A diverse group of 95 genotypes was evaluated. The experiments were carried out in the 2016/2017 crop season, at the Embrapa Clima Temperado experimental field, located in Capão do Leão, Rio Grande do Sul. The experimental design was the randomized blocks, with three replications. Two studies were performed, the first aimed to evaluate the concentration of iron and zinc in the rice grains of the diverse group of genotypes under two types of processing, integral and polished. The second study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the indirect selection using morphological characteristics to select genotypes with larger content of bioavailable iron in the grain. The cultivars EPAGRI 107 and Cachinho were superior regarding iron concentration in polished grains and Carnaroli and Arbório showed larger concentrations of zinc after the polishing. The analysed traits showed the genetic variability among the genotypes and the number of panicles per plant presented strong correlation with grain iron content. Thus this character can be used in the indirect selection with the aim of produce integral rice and together with the variables weight of the panicle and width of the caryopsis with the objective of increasing iron in polished rice. In this sense, this study showed genetic diversity among the evaluated genotypes for the grain iron and zinc concentration and the possibility of indirect selection using other characters, indicating that new researches, such as genotyping and second-year assessments, have to be carried out to support the development of biofortificated rice cultivars.