Marker‐assisted introgression of bacterial blight and blast resistance into IR 58025B,an elite maintainer line of rice

IR 58025A is a very popular wild‐abortive cytoplasmic male sterile (WA‐CMS) line of rice and is extensively used for hybrid rice breeding. However, IR 58025A and many hybrids derived from it possess mild aroma (undesirable in some parts of India) and are highly susceptible to bacterial blight (BB) and blast diseases. To improve IR 58025A for BB and blast resistance, we have introgressed a major dominant gene conferring resistance against BB (i.e. Xa21) and blast (i.e. Pi54) into IR 58025B, the maintainer line of IR 58025A. An introgression line of Samba Mahsuri (i.e. SM2154) possessing Xa21 and Pi54 genes in homozygous condition and fine‐grain type was used as donor parent, and backcross breeding strategy was adopted for targeted introgression of the resistance genes. PCR‐based molecular markers tightly linked to Xa21 and Pi54 were used for selection of BB‐ and blast‐resistant lines, while closely linked markers were used for identification of backcross‐derived plants devoid of Rf4 and aroma. At BC₂F₅, four backcross‐derived lines possessing resistance against BB and blast, devoid of aroma, high yield, short plant stature, long‐slender grain type and with recurrent parent genome recovery ranging from 88.8% to 98.6% were selected and advanced for further evaluation. The improved versions of IR 58025B, viz. SB54‐11‐143‐9‐44‐5, SB54‐11‐143‐9‐44‐98, SB54‐11‐143‐9‐44‐111 and SB54‐11‐143‐9‐44‐171, behaved as perfect maintainers when test‐crossed with WA‐CMS lines. Agronomically superior lines of improved IR 58025B are being converted to CMS line through backcrossing for developing high‐yielding and biotic stress‐resistant rice hybrids.