Marker Assisted breeding for Bacterial blight resistance and yield enhancing gene to improve Pranahitha, a local popular elite fine cultivar with good cooking quality

Biotic stresses are a major threat to rice production. Among the biotic stresses, bacterial leaf blight (BB) is one of the major diseases affecting rice grain production. The present investigation was conducted to evaluate genotypic and phenotypic effects of 50 breeding lines from a cross (Pranahitha//ISM/MTU1010 NIL) at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jagtial. 50 advanced breeding lines were screened through foreground selection for confirmation of the presence of target trait-specific genes, viz., for BB (Xa21) and yield gene (Gn1a). It was carried out with the co-dominant marker pTA 248 for checking the presence of Xa21 and the Gn1a INDEL marker-3 for checking the presence of Gn1a.Out of 50 advanced breeding lines, 36 lines possess the resistant allele of the Gn1a gene and 21 lines possess the Xa21 gene. Phenotypicscreeningof50F4breedinglinesidentified29resistant lines, 10 moderately resistant lines, seven susceptible lines, and fourhighlysusceptible lines. The results obtained in the present study indicate the success of combining marker-assisted breeding with phenotypic selection. Analysisofvarianceamongadvancedbreedinglinesrevealedthepresenceofsignificantdifferencefordaystofiftypercentflowering, plant height, panicle length, number of productive tillers, number offilled grains per panicle, number of unfilled grains per panicle, total number ofspikelets per panicle, 1000 seed weight and grain yield per plant between parentsandbreedinglines.