Foliar application of 6-benzyladenine after pollination improves hybrid rice seed vigor through modulating antioxidant system

Abstract Application of plant growth regulators emerges as one the most reliable methods to enhance crop productivity and quality. However, knowledge is limited in seed quality hybrid rice subjected exogenous 6-Benzyladenine (6-BA) application during development. A 2-year experiment was conducted investigate effects 6-BA treatment after pollination on vigor its underlying regulatory mechanisms. Results showed that increased germination potential (GP) index (VI) irrespective cultivar year, particularly with 50 mg/L. Consistently, seedling including height, root length dry weight significantly enhanced under Based results above, mg/L considered optimal concentration. Additionally, catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, it strongly induced expression OsAPX1 OsCSD3 related antioxidant enzyme activity at early stage emergence. Therefore, spraying could be recommended an agronomic practice for production high vigor.