Marker assisted pyramiding of major brown plant hopper resistance genes in an elite culture CBMAS14065

Abstract

Rice is an important source of energy and nutrition for half of the world’s population. Various biotic stress factors severely affect rice production. Among the biotic stresses, brown plant hopper is an important destructive pest affecting rice yield around the world. Host Plant Resistance which involves the ‘R’ gene factors is considered the most effective strategy for controlling brown plant hopper infestation. Introgression of single ‘R’ genes doesn’t confer complete protection against BPH damage due to continuous evolution of new BPH biotypes and hence multiple ‘R’ gene pyramiding can be done for developing durable resistance. In our study, BPH resistance was established in a pre-release high yield culture CBMAS14065 through QTL/Gene pyramiding strategy. Advanced backcross inbred progenies (BC1F3) were developed in the background of CBMAS14065 by crossing with the donor IR71033-121-15B harbouring Bph20 and Bph21 genes. Foreground selection was carried out using SSR markers RM261 and RM3331 closely linked to the respective Bph20 and Bph21 resistant genes. The BILs of CBMAS14065 harboringBph20 and Bph21 were phenotypically screened for brown plant hopper resistance under greenhouse conditions. The developed BILs viz., 48-5-3 and 2-3-2 exhibited enhanced resistance against BPH infestation with decreased yield loss, in comparison with the susceptible parent CBMAS14065. The BILs developed through gene pyramiding in this study will serve as a novel donor source for developing durable BPH-resistance in rice cultivars.

Keywords

• rice
• gene pyramiding
• cbmas14065
• bph resistance genes