4.1 Significant advancement of FOT by qEMF3 in a wide range of environmental conditions
Hirabayashi et al., (2015) and Bheemanahalli et al., (2017) previously reported an earlier FOT in IR64+qEMF3 than IR64 in Philippines (dry and wet seasons) and southern India (dry season), under field conditions. This study validated the genetic gain in advancing FOT byqEMF3 under diverse environments including temperate to tropical climates in the genetic background of IR64 (Table 2; Table S2). It should be noted, however, that the difference in FOT between IR64 and IR64+qEMF3 varies depending on the experimental site or seasons tested (Table 2; Table S2). It is possible that this difference is because FOT is determined in the fields by microclimates such as solar radiation and vapor pressure deficit in addition to air temperature (Julia & Dingkuhn, 2012; Kobayasi, Matsui, Yoshimoto, & Hasegawa, 2010). Development of a prediction model for FOT that takes into consideration various such meteorological parameters will help us in identifying the locations where qEMF3 can make a significant advancement in FOT to escape heat stress at flowering. The nature of interactions between genetic and environmental factors on FOT in IR64+qEMF3 is still not very clear.