Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR MARKER BASED IDENTIFICATION OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) GENOTYPES FOR BLB RESISTANCE

Surya Kant Mishra Navneet Kumar1, Manoj Kumar Sharma2, Ankul Chand Sharma1, Nimit Kumar3*, Sonu Kumar Ravi Kant Singh5, Shashank Mishra Pawan Kumar and Devi Singh

Abstract

Bacterial leaf blight of rice, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is one of the major constraints limiting rice production more than 30% in Asia. Till date no effective chemical control is available to combat this most destructive disease of rice. The incorporation of genetic resistance in cultivars or the use of resistant genotypes in cultivation is the only effective and reliable strategy to manage the bacterial leaf blight disease. Gene linked molecular markers play key roles in the identification of resistant genotypes among vast germplasm collections. In the present study, a total of 30 rice genotypes were screened for the presence of three bacterial blight resistance genes i.e. Xa4, xa13 and Xa21 using morphological and molecular markers. In our study, we have identified thirteen out of thirty rice genotypes having two or three BLB resistance genes. Morphological data also validated with the molecular data and confirmed the pattern of BLB resistance in all thirty rice genotypes on the basis of lesion length on leaf surfaces. These resistant genotypes can be effectively used as donor parent in breeding programmes for rice improvement against BLB through marker assisted backcross breeding methods.