Effect of Sowing Rate on Pot Seedling Quality of High Quality Indica Rice in South China

Seedlings growth, empty hole rate, plant height and biomass were conducted with low, medium and more sowing rates using Taifengyou208（TFY208）and Nanjingxiangzhan（NJXZ）being the high quality both hybrid and inbred indica rice in South China．Results indicated that, seedling emergence rate of NJXZ under more sowing rate was lowered by 6.1% than that under low sowing rate．No significant difference for seedling emergence rate of TFY208 at varied sowing rate was detected．With the increase in sowing rates, empty hole rate was lowered significantly．Empty hole rates of both TFY208 and NJXZ were reduced by 2.90% and 5.08% under more sowing rate than low sowing rate, respectively．Plant height of TFY208 was increased with increase in sowing rate during early seedling period（0-7 days after sowing）, while reduced during late seedling period（7-13 days after sowing）．The plant height of NJXJ was reduced with the increase in sowing rate during early seedling period, while was comparable during late seedling period．Root, shoot and total biomass during early seedling period were increased with the increase in sowing rate, while reduced during late seedling period．The root, shoot and total biomass before transplanting weren't affected by sowing rate．In addition, sowing rate was negatively correlated with seedling emergence rate, empty hole rate and plant height before transplanting, while was positively correlated with biomass during the early seedling period．Taken together, more sowing rate（3 to 4 seeds per hole）could reduce empty hole rate, coordinate increase in plant height and biomass, thus improve population quality of pot seedlings．