Characterization of Blast Resistance in a Diverse Rice Panel from Sub-Saharan Africa.

There is a recent unparalleled increase in demand for rice in sub-Saharan Africa, yet its production is affected by blast disease. Characterization of blast resistance in adapted African rice cultivars can provide important information to guide growers and rice breeders. We used molecular markers for known blast resistance genes ( genes; = 21) to group African rice genotypes ( = 240) into similarity clusters.