Improving bacterial blight and blast resistance in aromatic medicinal rice through marker-assisted selection

Rice is an important food crop worldwide, especially in Asia. Rice growers face serious challenges due to major diseases such as blast and bacterial blight (BB), which result in significant yield losses and substantial economic hardship. To mitigate the occurrence of these two diseases, this study used MAS by pyramiding four resistance genes, namely Pi54 for blast resistance and Xa21, xa13 along with xa5 for bac BB resistance, from a resistant donor Improved CO 51 into the aromatic medicinal rice of northeastern India. Chakhao Amubi was crossed with the donor and true F1 plants were advanced to the F2 generation. F2 generation’s molecular screening identified individuals homozygous for the blast-resistant gene Pi54, along with one or two blight-resistance genes. The goodness of fit had been also tested utilizing χ². The selected plants were then screened in the F3 generation for these genes. Eleven F3 families were identified and evaluated under disease screening for their resistance against blast as well as BB. In the field screening, the pyramided lines exhibited greater resistance to BB and blast as well as a wider range. These lines can be further advanced to develop superior lines that could be utilized as donors for disease resistance or potentially released as a variety following yield evaluation.