Vincent P. Reyes | Rosalyn B. Angeles-shim | Ruby S. Lapis | Jung-hyun Shim | Hidehiko Sunohara | Kshirod K. Jena | Motoyuki Ashikari | Kazuyuki Doi
Food insecurity is one of the major problems of our growing population. With the threats of climate change and an exponential decrease in arable land, crop productivity improvement is needed more than ever. The advent of molecular markers has given the field of plant breeding the ability to fast track plant selection with target genes for selected traits in shorter generations. Introgression of abiotic and biotic related QTLs has been a common practice for crop improvement; however, utilizing yield-related QTLs has remained limited. In this study, major QTLs Grain number 1a (Gn1a), for an increase in spikelet number, and Wealthy Farmer's Panicle (WFP), for an increase in primary branching, were introgressed in four Asian rice cultivars (Kinandang patong, IRAT 109, Silewah, Basmati) from the donor parents ST12 and ST6. The rice microsatellite (RM) markers RM3360, RM 5493, and RM3452 were used to confirm the introgression. Introgressed lines at BC3F5 and BC3F6 generation from each genetic background were evaluated for phenotypic traits, focusing on primary branching per panicle (PBPP) and total spikelet per panicle (TSPP). Improvements in TSPP and PBPP were observed in selected lines representing four genetic backgrounds. Improved lines with introgressed Gn1a or WFP were comparatively similar to its recurrent parent in yield-related traits such as heading date (HD), plant height (PH), hundred-grain weight (HGW). This study demonstrates the success of utilizing yield QTLs for improving the yield performance of our existing rice cultivars.
ISSN 2719-1990 (Print)
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