Abstract: Under the background of global warming, high temperature weather occurs frequently in the Yangtze River Basin, which has become the primary problem seriously affecting the safe production of rice in this region. In order to clarify the effects of short-term high temperature on the spikelet opening dynamics and yield of different rice varieties during flowering period, the heat-resistant rice variety N22 and heat-sensitive rice variety YR343 were used as experimental materials and planted in pots. From the day of heading and blooming, the artificial climate chamber was used for temperature treatment, with 32℃/25℃ (day/night) as the control, 38℃/30℃ as the high temperature treatment, and continuous treatment for 7 days. Samples were taken on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th days of treatment to study the effects of high temperature stress on the opening dynamics, physiological characteristics of spikelets and yield of rice in different days of flowering. The results showed that: (1) the yield and seed setting rate of rice showed a decreasing trend after high temperature stress, and the reduction range was related to the duration of high temperature. After 7 days of high temperature treatment, the yield and seed setting rate of N22 decreased by 49.1% and 37.4%, and that of YR343 decreased by 85.1% and 65.3%, respectively. (2) The anther dehiscence rate and pollen activity of rice decreased to varying degrees after high temperature stress during flowering, and the longer the high temperature lasted, the greater the decrease. (3) The total amount of spikelet opening of rice was significantly reduced under high temperature stress, in N22 and YR343, by 33.3% and 65.5%, respectively. The flowering peak and peak appearance time of rice changed under high temperature stress. Compared with the control, the flowering peak ratio of N22 and YR343 decreased by 0.5% and 2.8%, respectively, and the flowering peak of N22 appeared 1 h earlier, while that of YR343 did not change. And under the high temperature coercion, YR343 has a shortened flowering period. (4) The changes of the physiological indices of rice spikelets under high temperature stress were as follows: the contents of soluble protein, soluble sugar and proline generally decreased; the contents of malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide increased; the activity of antioxidant enzymes showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. In summary, the low seed setting rate is the main reason for the reduction in rice yield. High temperature stress leads to the reduction of rice yield, mainly by changing the spikelet opening dynamics and its physiological characteristics, reducing the anther dehiscence rate and pollen activity, and thus reducing the seed setting rate.

Key words: Rice, Short-term high temperature, Spikelet opening dynamics, Yield, Seed setting rate