Current Advances on marker assisted breeding for Rice Blast Disease

In recent times, rice production has been tremendously increased due to high yielding varieties, hybrids and new cultivation methods. However, diseases like rice blast, always remain major constrain in healthy rice production. This disease is responsible for annual loss of millions of tons of rice and subsequent food crisis. In comparison to fungicides, chemicals and transgenic approaches, breeding or planting high yielding resistant varieties is comparatively more sound and affordable approach to control blast disease. However, to develop resistant varieties, it is required to know about the genes and QTLs responsible for resistance against rice blast. In the present review article, some recent studies on rice blast genes, QTLs and molecular markers with their application in marker assisted selection and gene pyramiding are being discussed.