Crossability patterns within and among Oryza series Sativae species from Asia and Australia

Reproductive barriers are thought to intensify with increasing genetic distance between species. To assess the extent of post-pollination reproductive isolation within and among the Asia Pacific species of Oryza series Sativae, crossing experiments using 15 accessions of O. meridionalis Ng, O. nivara Sharma et Shastry, and O. rufipogon Griff. were conducted. Intra- and interspecific crosses of the selfing species O. meridionalis and O. nivara had very low seed set and produced inviable F1 seeds indicative of strong pre- and post-zygotic barriers. Contrastingly, the outcrossing O. rufipogon exhibited high intraspecific crossability and modest compatibility with O. nivara and O. meridionalis in terms of seed set suggesting substantial pre-zygotic reproductive isolation of the species. O. rufipogon was asymmetrically compatible with O. meridionalis and symmetrically with O. nivara. The two inbreeding species manifested comparable degrees of isolation from O. rufipogon despite differences in strength of several post-zygotic barriers. Mating compatibility within and between the Asia Pacific species of Oryza series Sativae is not strongly spatially influenced, but some resistance to gene flow under sympatric conditions was observed. Intraspecific O. rufipogon F1s were more vegetatively robust and more late-flowering than their parents. Intra- and interspecific hybrids of Australasian O. rufipogon differed phenotypically from crosses with non-Australasian populations. Interspecific hybrids displayed both intermediate and parental character traits. O. nivara and O. rufipogon generated early-flowering F1s that are more similar to the former. O. meridionalis and O. rufipogon produced F1s that varied in phenology and morphology depending on the maternal and paternal species.