The transition temperature of respiratory activity of mitochondria isolated from panicles of rice plant was measured with 41 varieties bred in Korea, which had been agronomically classified into five groups based on their relative cold-tolerance; S (strong cold-tolerance), S-M (moderate to strong cold-tolerance), M (moderate cold-tolerance), M-W (moderate to weak cold-tolerance) and W (weak cold-tolerance). The temperature was found to be $11.5{sim}13.5^{circ}C$ for group S, $13.5{sim}16^{circ}C$ for group S-M, $16{sim}17^{circ}C$ for group M, $17{sim}18^{circ}C$ for group M-W, and ${geq}18^{circ}C$ for group W respectively with a few exceptions of minor deviation, demonstrating a close correlation between the transition temperature and the chilling susceptivity of a variety. This observation supports the suggestion that the transition temperature of respiratory activity of panicles be adopted as a reliable index for grading a rice variety as to its overall cold tolerance. Also studied is on the methodology for measurement of the transition temperature in the aspect of analytical biochemistry. In addition to the usual polarographic method, a spectrophotometric method which is based on the enzymatic assay of membrane-bound cytochrome C oxidase was examined. This enzyme was found previousely and confirmed again in the present work to be a key factor governing the respiratory trantion at least in plant mitochondria. The optical method was turned out to be very successful, although it was a little more complicate and time-consuming than the electrochemical method.