Genetic resources

Jaravaa new high-yielding and pest-resistant rice variety for coastal saline areas
T. Ram, N.D. Majumder, and B. Mishra, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500030, India

Coastal as well as inland soil salinity and alkalinity are the predominant abiotic stresses that limit rice production on about 8.5 million ha in India. The very few varieties developed for the salt-affected areas came predominantly from donors such as Pokkali, SR26B, Nonasail, Getu, Dasal, Chittivirippu, and Damodar, which have moderate tolerance. So far, adoption of varieties developed for the coastal saline areas is very limited (Akbar et al 1986) because of the occurrence of major biotic and other mineral stresses associated with salinity in these areas. We therefore initiated a breeding program for the introgression of multiple genes of agronomic importance from wild rice Oryza rufipogon. One accession of O. rufipogon (WR107), which was tolerant of salinity at ECe 910 dS m-1, immune to blast, and resistant to bacterial leaf blight (BB), brown planthopper (BPH), and whitebacked planthopper (WBPH), was crossed with a high-yielding line, B32-Sel-4, which was susceptible to salinity, blast, BB, BPH, and WBPH. The F1 was crossed with another susceptible line, B29-6 (late duration). Half of the F2 of the three-way cross were screened for blast resistance and half for salinity tolerance (ECe 9 10 dS m-1) and the 20 tolerant/resistant plants from each screening were intermated. A second cycle of intermating was also done in the F2 of the first intermated population. Thereafter, pedigree selection was followed. In the F5 generation, 42 introgression lines were screened for salt tolerance and resistance to blast, BPH, WBPH, and BB. Six promising lines tolerant of salt and resistant to blast, BB, and BPH were evaluated in the All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Program (AICRIP) trials for yield under saline conditions. They were likewise screened for resistance to major pests and diseases. The introgression line B90-15 with tolerance/resistance to salinity, blast, BB, and BPH was evaluated in AICRIP trials from 1999 to 2001 and in 2004 as IET15420 in coastal saline areas under low salinity (Andhra Pradesh), moderate salinity (West Bengal and Maharashtra), high salinity (Andamans), and alkalinity with saline water irrigation with 1.7 dS m-1 and RSC 9.0 meq L-1 (Pondicherry). It was also screened for major disease and insect pest resistance. In the four years of testing, with newly released varieties CST7-1 and CSR27 as salt-tolerant checks and Jaya as a yield check, the average yield of IET15420 under moderate salinity conditions of West Bengal and

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

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Genetic resources
Maharashtra was 4.8 and 5.7 t ha-1, respectively, with significantly higher yield than all the checks. In Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry, where salinity was associated with alkalinity, it yielded 4.1 and 3.4 t ha-1, respectively. Under high-salinity conditions (ECe 9.210 dS m-1) in the Andamans, the average yield of IET15420 was 2.8 t ha-1 (Table 1). The yield advantage of IET15420 over the check varieties is shown in Table 1. Since both indica parents (B32Sel-4 and B29-6) were susceptible to salinity and other abiotic stresses, the tolerance in IET15420 indicated that the genes for salinity and other abiotic stress resistance in IET15420 were introgressed from O. rufipogon.
Table 1. Mean yield performance of Jarava (IET15420) over locations and years in different states.
State West Bengal Andhra Pradesh Pondicherry Andamans Maharashtra Weighted mean Trials (no.) 7 3 3 2 3 IET15420 4.8 4.1 3.4 2.8 5.7 4.4 Yield (t ha-1) CST7-1 3.6 (5)a 3.6 (2) 2.5 (3) 1.2 (3) 5.2 (3) 3.4 CSR27 3.0 (6) 3.2 (2) 2.0 (3) 1.5 (3) 4.0 (3) 2.9 Jaya 2.8 (7) 3.1 (2) 2.3 (3) 1.7 (3) 4.2 (3) 2.3 Yield superiority (%) of IET15420 over checks CST7-1 CSR27 Jaya 33.3 60.0 71.4 13.9 28.1 32.3 36.0 133.3 10.0 29.4 70.0 86.7 42.5 51.7 47.8 64.7 39.0 91.3 Soil pH 6.07.6 7.78.6 8.28.6 5.76.2 7.57.9 ECe (dS m1) 6.47.5 3.24.7 1.61.8 9.210 4.55.6

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times IET15420 was statistically superior to corresponding checks at the 5% significance level.

IET15420 (B90-15) was screened against different lineages of blast and bacterial leaf blight (BLB), sheath blight (ShB), rice tungro disease (RTD), BPH, WBPH, green leafhoppers (GLH), leaffolders, and a mixed population of planthoppers under artificial and natural infection/infestation conditions (AICRIP 1999-2001, 2004). Over the years and locations, IET15420 showed broad-spectrum resistance to blast, neck blast, leaffolders, and planthoppers and moderate resistance to BLB, ShB, RTD, BPH, WBPH, and GLH (Table 2). Both the indica parents and introgression lines were also screened for blast, BB, BPH, and WBPH in a glasshouse under artificial infestation. The results showed that the indica parents were susceptible to the diseases and insect pests and IET15420 was resistant, indicating that genes for multiple pest and disease resistance in IET15420 were also introgressed from O. rufipogon.

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

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Genetic resources
Table 2. Average reaction over the years of IET15420 to major pests and diseases at hot-spot locations.
Disease and insect pesta Leaf blast Neck blast BLB ShB RTD BPH WBPH GLH Mixed population of planthoppers Leaffolders Trials (no.) 57 5 47 32 7 16 14 Jarava (IET15420) 2.5 2.4 4.9 5.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.5 2.1 1.7 IR64 R: Blast 3.5 4.3 Score in the 0-9 SES scaleb HR12 TN (1) Ajaya S: Blast S: BLB, R: BLB RTD, ShB 7.3 c 7.5 7.7 4.1 7.1 6.1 7.9 5.3 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 7.0 Vikramarya R: RTD 7.1 5.7 2.0 Swarnadhan MR: ShB 6.8 5.5 4.3

BLB = bacterial leaf blight, RTD = rice tungro disease, ShB = sheath blight, BPH = brown planthopper, WBPH = whitebacked planthopper, GLH = green leafhopper. b Score 03 = resistant, 3.15 = moderately resistant, 5.19 = susceptible. c = not tested.

In terms of quality characteristics, IET15420 had short, bold grains, 58.4% head rice recovery, intermediate amylose content and alkali spreading value, and soft gel consistency (Table 3). It had better cooking quality than CST7-1 and CSR27, which have been released for coastal saline areas. Considering its yield superiority over the check varieties in moderately and highly saline and sodic conditions, its multiple resistance to/tolerance for major biotic stresses, and its better cooking quality, introgression line IET15420 was officially released as variety Jarava for cultivation in the coastal saline areas of West Bengal, Pondicherry, and the Andamans in 2006. Jarava is a prime example of a variety into which multiple genes of agronomic importance were introgressed from O. rufipogon.
Table 3. Quality characteristics of IET15420 (Jarava) and check varieties.
Varieties Jarava 65.8 2.2 58.4 1.7 5.6 0.08 2.4 0.02 2.3 0.05 SB CST7-1 68.5 1.2 54.6 6.2 5.6 0.11 2.43 0.01 2.3 0.04 SB CSR27 70.2 0.95 51.8 4.1 6.2 0.12 2.2 0.02 2.8 0.03 LB Jaya 71.9 0.3 64.4 1.6 5.7 0.06 2.5 0.11 2.3 0.02 SB

Quality characteristic Milling (%) Head rice recovery (%) Kernel length (L) (mm) Kernel breadth (B) (mm) L/B Grain typea

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

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Genetic resources
Alkali spreading value Amylose content (%) GCb (mm) Grain chalkiness
a b

5.0 25.02 0.01 35.0 0.1 VOCc

c

7.0 22.58 0.02 58.0 0.5 VOC

7.0 27.45 0.03 53.0 0.1 VOC

7.0 26.3 0.03 53.0 0.6 VOC

SB = short bold; LB = long bold. GC = gel consistency. VOC = very occasionally present.

References
AICRIP (All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Program). 1999-2001 and 2004. Progress report. Vol. 1. Varietal improvement. Hyderabad (India): National Screening Nursery of Pathology and Entomology, AICRIP. Akbar M, Gunawardena IE, Ponnamperuma FN. 1986. Breeding for soil stresses. In: Progress in rainfed lowland rice. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. p 263-273.

International Rice Research Notes (0117-4185)

2010