Marker assisted introgression and validation of resistance genes Bph20 and Bph21 for brown plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens sta1) into a popular rice variety of CO51

Abstract

Rice production needs to be doubled by 2050 because rice is the stable food for half of the world’s population. Rice productivity is greatly affected by various biotic stresses. Among biotic stresses the brown plant hopper is one of the most serious constraints and devastating insect pest of rice in most rice growing areas of the world which causes significant yield loss in rice production. Developing resistance in host plant is important and it is the most effective method to control brown plant hopper damage. The host plant resistance can be developed through pyramiding of more than one gene in a single plant, because the single gene resistance can be suddenly broken by the emergence of new BPH biotypes. In order to develop improved version in a popular rice variety of CO51 against BPH resistance. The advanced early generation BC1F3 (BILs) mapping population lines were developed by cross between CO51 and donor IR71033-121-15B.The SSR markers namely RM16556 and RM3331 were employed for foreground selection of Bph20 and Bph21 resistance genes respectively. The homozygous positive Bph20 and Bph21 pyramided lines were used for screening against Brown plant hopper, the phenotypic screening work was carried out under glass house condition. The BILs 12-35-6-3, 12-35-7-16 and 12-35-13-1 were recorded with moderate resistance to BPH.