Genetic Improvement of Drought Tolerance in North Eastern Chakhao Amubi rice Through Marker Assisted Selection

Drought ranks the top among the abiotic stresses affecting rice production and sustaining rice production warrants the development of drought tolerant rice cultivars. This study was aimed at developing recombinant inbred lines of Chakhao Amubi possessing drought tolerant QTLs of Apo. A RIL population developed between Chakhao amubi (popular rice in Manipur) and Apo (a drought tolerant cultivar) was genotyped using SSR markers linked to major drought tolerant QTLs, the positive lines were screened for grain characteristics and aroma. Foreground analysis of F2 (117 progenies) population using SSR markers RM11885 (qDTY1.1), RM7426 (qDTY2.1), RM16030 (qDTY3.1) and BADEX7-5 (OsBADH2 loci controlling aroma) resulted in the identification of 25 progenies harboring all the three drought tolerant QTLs (qDTY1.1, qDTY2.1 and qDTY3.1) and aroma, 11 progenies were found to harbour two target QTLs and aroma and two progenies were found to harbour any one of the drought QTL and aroma. Agronomic evaluation of RILs (F4) identified 11 superior RILs possessing reduced duration, high yield, and all four QTLs for further evaluation and breeding applications.