| Abstract: | Drought is one of the major abiotic threat to rice production in the context of climate change. Super Basmati is an
elite, fine grain basmati rice variety grown in Punjab, Pakistan. Due to drought sensitive in nature, its yield has
been facing an alarming situation in production because of gradual decrease in irrigated water for a couple of
years. Three reported novel QTLs for drought tolerance were selected for incorporation into Super Basmati by
employing marker assisted selection strategy. IR55419-04 with novel QTLs was used as a donor parent. Foreground selection was performed by applying PCR based QTL linked SSR markers followed by recombinant selection by using 2–4 flanking markers. Background selection was exercised by using polymorphic SSR markers for
maximum genome recovery of the Super Basmati. The individuals homozygous at the target QTLs and with maximum background of Super Basmati at the rest of the non-target genome was selected for evaluation of drought
tolerance. Under drought stress conditions, the yields of all introgressed lines (ILs) were 44.2%–125.7% higher
than recurrent parent. Six superior ILs that are drought tolerant and very similar to Super Basmati in terms of
agronomic and grain quality traits are marked for release as drought-tolerant varieties in arid regions or for
use in breeding programs of high grain quality and drought-tolerant parents. |
