Number of chromosomes found in rice gamete is:

12

The correct answer is Option (3) - 12

The number of chromosomes found in a rice gamete, whether male (pollen) or female (egg cell), is determined by the process of meiosis. In rice plants, like many other organisms, meiosis is a specialized cell division process that reduces the chromosome number by half, resulting in gametes with half the number of chromosomes compared to the parent cell.

In the case of rice plants, let's consider a male gamete (pollen grain). The rice plant's somatic cells typically have a diploid chromosome number, represented as 2n. For instance, if the diploid chromosome number in a rice plant is 24 (2n=24), during meiosis, the chromosome number is halved. This results in the formation of haploid gametes, each containing 12 chromosomes (n=12).

Similarly, in female gametes (egg cells) of rice plants, meiosis also reduces the chromosome number by half. Thus, the female gametes also contain 12 chromosomes (n=12).

So, to sum up, both male and female gametes in rice plants contain half the number of chromosomes i.e 12 compared to the somatic cells, which is a result of the halving of chromosomes during meiosis.