Multiparent-Derived, Marker-Assisted Introgression Lines of the Elite Indian Rice Cultivar, 'Krishna Hamsa' Show Resistance against Bacterial Blight and Blast and Tolerance to Drought.

Major biotic stresses viz., bacterial blight (BB) and blast and brown plant hopper (BPH) coupled with abiotic stresses like drought stress, significantly affect rice yields. To address this, marker-assisted intercross (IC) breeding involving multiple donors was used to combine three BB resistance genes- and , two blast resistance genes- and , two BPH resistance genes- and , and four drought tolerant quantitative trait loci (QTL)- and -in the genetic background of the elite Indian rice cultivar 'Krishna Hamsa'.

Improvement of bacterial blight resistance of the popular variety, Nellore Mahsuri (NLR34449) through marker-assisted breeding.

To combat the dreaded diseases in rice like bacterial blight (BB) and blast, host plant resistance has been advocated as the most suitable and sustainable method. Through the present study, we have successfully incorporated three major BB resistance genes, namely , and into NLR3449, a high yielding, blast resistant, fine-grain type, popular rice variety through marker-assisted backcross breeding. Foreground selection was carried out using polymerase chain reaction based, gene-specific markers, namely pTA248 (), xa13prom () and xa5FM () at each generation of backcrossing, while 127 polymorphic SSR markers spanning on 12 chromosomes were used for background selection and backcrossing was limited to two rounds.

Stable SNP Allele Associations With High Grain Zinc Content in Polished Rice ( L.) Identified Based on ddRAD Sequencing.

Polished rice is widely consumed staple food across the globe, however, it contains limited nutrients especially iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). To identify promising genotypes for grain Zn, a total of 40 genotypes consisting 20 rice landraces, and 20 released high yielding rice varieties were evaluated in three environments (wet seasons 2014, 2015 and 2016) for nine traits including days to 50% flowering (DFF), plant height (PH), panicle length (PL), total number of tillers (TNT), single plant yield (SPY), Fe and Zn in brown (IBR, ZBR) and polished rice (IPR, ZPR). Additive Main Effect and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI), Genotype and Genotype × Environment Interaction (GGE) analyses identified genotypes G22 (Edavankudi Pokkali), G17 (Taraori Basmati), G27 (Chittimuthyalu) and G26 (Kalanamak) stable for ZPR and G8 (Savitri) stable for SPY across three environments.

Incorporation of the novel bacterial blight resistance gene Xa38 into the genetic background of elite rice variety Improved Samba Mahsuri.

Bacterial blight (BB) in rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a major global production constraint, particularly in irrigated and rain-fed lowland areas. Improved Samba Mahsuri (ISM) is an elite, high-yielding, fine-grain type, BB-resistant rice variety possessing three BB-resistant genes (Xa21, xa13 and xa5) and is highly popular in the southern parts of India.