Evaluation of elite rice breeding lines for resistance to bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae)

Three hundred twenty advanced rice breeding lines were evaluated to determine their resistance to ten pathotypes of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) prevalent in the Indian Punjab. Two years resistance evaluation under artificial epiphytotic conditions showed that 104 entries were possessing broad spectrum genetic resistance to all the ten prevalent Xoo pathotypes. The results further demonstrated that, 15 entries were exhibiting diverse reaction to four Xoo pathotypes namely PbXo-1, PbXo-7, PbXo-9 and PbXo-10 with disease score ranging between 1 to 7. The rice breeding lines possessing broad spectrum resistance to all the ten prevalent Xoo pathotypes identified in this study has a potential to serve as donors for breeding durable bacterial blight resistant rice cultivars.