Abstract: The canopy temperature of rice at the flowering stage and the soil water content were investigated under different soil water treatments (the soil water contents were 24%, 55%, 90% and 175% at the flowering stage). The canopy temperature was lower than air temperature, and the soil water content significantly influenced the canopy temperature. The lower the soil water content, the higher the canopy temperature, the less the accumulative absolute value of canopy-air temperature difference. Moreover, the maximum difference between treatments and CK in the accumulative absolute value of canopy-air temperature difference appeared at 13:00 p.m. in a day, thus, it could be considered as a suitable measuring time. Under the lowest water content treatment, the peak flowering occurred in the first three days (about 70% of panicles flowered), resulting in shortened and lightened panicle of rice. As to the CK and the high water content treatments, the peak flowering appeared in the middle of flowering duration, with longer panicle length and higher panicle weight. Results indicated the lower the soil water content, the less the filled grain number and grain yield. Key words: rice; canopy temperature; soil water content; yield components Water deficit is one of the most important factors limiting crop yield, and the monitoring of crop water status is important for reasonable irrigation and water saving cultivation. Using crop canopy temperature to characterize crop water status is a new method for the monitoring. Tanner et al Turner et al [5] studied the relationships among rice canopy temperature, water stress, leaf rolling and growth, and found that drought stress increased the canopy-air temperature difference and leaf rolling, whereas reduced dry matter of rice. Chauham et a
