1Present Address: Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751 003, Odisha, India
2Botanical Research Unit, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, 813 210, Bihar, India
3Present Address: Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751 003, Odisha, India
Crop Improvement Division, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, 753 006, Odisha, India
*Corresponding Author: Ram L. Verma, Crop Improvement Division, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, 753 006, Odisha, India, E-Mail: ram.pantvarsity@gmail.com
Online Published on 14 August, 2024.
Drought is one of the major abiotic stress factors affecting the growth and production of rice globally and it can cause an estimated yield loss up to 90% in rice. With the increasing population around the globe, a comprehensive approach for mitigating drought stress should be taken to develop drought-tolerant rice varieties to meet future food demands. One hundred and eighty-two rice genotypes were evaluated for six critical gene/QTLs associated with drought tolerance using SNP marker data. The results revealed that 172 genotypes carry at least one gene/QTL for drought tolerance. The six gene/QTLs, namely, DTY1.1, qDTY2.2, qDTY3.1, qDTY3.2, qDTY4.1 and qDTY12.1 were found in 103, 26, 90, 25, 27 and 45 genotypes corresponding to 57, 49, 14, 14, 15 and 25% of the total screened genotypes, respectively. Remarkably, five genotypes (RL-32, RL-105, RL-110, RL-142 and RL-158) possessed a unique combination three major genes/QTLs and three genotypes (RL-21, RL-41 and RL-188) possessed a unique combination four major gene/QTLs for drought tolerance. Furthermore, both cluster and populationn structure analyses revealed the distribution of the genotypes into two major clusters. The genotypes carrying valuable gene/QTLs either in single or combination, hold immense potential for deployment in drought tolerance rice breeding programs.
Abiotic stress, Drought tolerance, Rice, SNP and QTLs
