Variation of major agronomic characters and resistance to blast of mutant lines by space mutation in Oryza sativa

The major agronomic characters and resistance to blast of 21 space mutant lines (SP10), which were selected from the recoverable satellite carried indica rice variety Texianzhan 13, were observed and studied. The results showed that significant variations (including forward-and backward mutation) were found in most major agronomic and economic characters in these mutant lines. The positive and negative variations were found in a single character. Different mutant lines showed the different resistance spectrum to blast and the same line had the different blast resistance to different Magnaporthe grisea pathogenic strains. These results indicated that the resistance variation caused by space mutation were complicated. The new varieties and germplasm which had significant improvement in many characters such as plant height, maturing duration, yield, quality and blast resistance could be obtained from the space mutant lines.