Soil fertility plays a crucial role in ensuring both the quality and quantity of agricultural crop production. However, determining the optimal parameters for regulating rice growth to enhance yield remains challenging, as the correlation between soil factors and rice yield has not been quantitatively assessed. The present work will examine the relationship between soil fertility and rice yield in Malaysia. A Pearson correlation matrix heatmap was employed to quantitatively evaluate the relationships between soil chemical properties and rice yield of two paddy seed varieties, UiTM 1 and UiTM 5, cultivated across three regions in Perak, Kedah, and Johor. Furthermore, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was utilised to elucidate the multivariate structure of soil fertility data and identify the dominant factors influencing yield variance. The results revealed that soil pH exhibited a stronger positive correlation with the yield of UiTM 5 (r = 0.66, p < 0.01) compared to UiTM 1 (r = 0.45, p > 0.05). In contrast, aluminium showed a stronger negative correlation with UiTM 5 (r = - 0.87, p < 0.01) than with UiTM 1 (r = - 0.78, p < 0.01), indicating a greater risk of aluminium toxicity in UiTM 5. The PCA identified two main components accounting for 78.2% of the total variance, suggesting that rice yield is strongly associated by the Soil Acidity and Cation Status Factor (PC2) rather than nitrogenous organic fertility alone. Among the five paddy fields studied, location A9 recorded the highest rice yields, with 9.29 mt/ha for UiTM 1 and 9.11 mt/ha for UiTM 5, which aligned with the optimal vector space for pH and cation exchange capacity in the PCA biplot. This superior performance may be attributed to the soil fertility at A9, which falls within the optimal critical range for rice cultivation. The integration of correlation and multivariate analyses demonstrates that managing soil acidity and aluminium toxicity is a critical consideration for optimising productivity. Understanding these relationships provides valuable insights for improving soil management practices and enhancing rice production sustainability in Malaysia.

Rice plays a crucial role in global food security, yet it is highly vulnerable to diseases, particularly bacterial leaf blight (BLB) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Sustainable rice production, such as mutagenesis, can help in the development of new rice varieties with imrpoved agronomic performances. Consequently, this investigation was designed to develop potential rice mutant lines resistant to Xoo from the MR297 rice variety using gamma radiation. In the preliminary stage (radiosensitivity test), MR297 seeds achieved a 50% lethality rate (LD50) or the highest mutation frequency at 382.245Gy. The M1 generation was established using 10,000 irradiated seeds at a dose of 384.245 Gy. In the subsequent M2 and M3 generations, the derived lines demonstrated superior yield and agronomic traits compared with the parental cultivar MR297. Disease screening against the Xoo pathotype indicated that M2 and M3 plants exhibited resistance scores ranging from 1 to 3. Genotypic evaluation of 30 selected M3 individuals showed that all carried the recessive Xa5 allele, while seven plants possessed a gene combination of the dominant Xa21 and recessive Xa5. These seven lines were classified within Cluster II of the UPGMA dendrogram at a similarity coefficient of 0.78. Overall, the results highlight these lines as promising breeding resources for developing high-yielding rice varieties with durable resistance to BLB.

Background: Drought is among the most severe abiotic stresses limiting global rice (Oryza sativa L.) productivity and threatening food security, particularly in high-yielding but stress-sensitive cultivars such as MR219. Understanding the genomic basis of drought tolerance is essential to support the development of resilient rice varieties. This study aimed to identify genome-wide variants and drought-responsive genes associated with induced drought tolerance in the mutant line NMR151 derived from MR219. Methods: Whole-genome resequencing was performed on the drought-tolerant mutant NMR151 and its parental line MR219. High-quality paired-end reads totaling 92.1 million (MR219) and 78.5 million (NMR151) were mapped to the O. sativa cv. Nipponbare reference genome with an alignment efficiency of 91.4% and coverages of 35.4× and 29.6×, respectively. Variant calling, functional annotation using SnpEff, and visualization through the Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV) were employed to detect and characterize single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions/deletions (InDels). Results: A total of 4.27 million and 4.18 million polymorphisms were identified in MR219 and NMR151, dominated by SNPs and InDels with a transition-to-transversion ratio of 2.4. Comparative analysis revealed 3.01 million shared and 1.17 million unique SNPs in NMR151, indicating mutation-driven allelic diversification. Most variants occurred in intergenic (33.2 %), upstream (29.1 %), and downstream (24.6 %) regions, while six drought-responsive genes (OsDREB2A, OsNAC6, OsLEA3-1, OsAPX2, OsCPK21, and OsP5CS1) were uniquely mutated in NMR151. Conclusions: The drought resilience of NMR151 results primarily from regulatory fine-tuning rather than extensive coding alterations. These findings provide valuable molecular insights and genomic markers for breeding climate-resilient rice varieties through mutation and marker-assisted selection.

Water scarcity causedmillions of ringgit losses in a vast Malaysia from 2017 to 2021 in vast area of rice fields. The development of drought tolerant varietiesis vital as most Malaysian rice varieties are drought-susceptible. Hence the aim of this project wasto study the performance of advanced mutant rice lines (Oryza sativaL.). on phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, broad sense heritability, genetic gain and correlations. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in the rice plot areaofSekinchan, Selangor during the 2020/2021 cropping season. All traits were drastically affected by the drought stress and significant reduction in their performance was also observed. Analysis of varianceshowed significant differences for all phenotypic and agronomic traits observed in a stressfulenvironment. Genotypes differed significantly at p<0.05for all the traits studied, which implies that the genotypes constitute a pool of germplasm with adequate genetic variability. Genotypic coefficients of variation were lower than the corresponding phenotypic coefficients in all the traits studied, indicating a considerable influence of the environment on the expression of the traits. Heritability showed two phenotypic and agronomic traits, namely, days to UFG andSF. These traits showed high heritability both under non-stress (control) (56.60-57.87) and stress (47.94-50.36%) environments. FLA had medium heritability under non-stress environment (15.98%) but low heritability under stress environment (7.37%). Several significant positive as well as negative correlations in a stressfulenvironment were observed among the traits. Similar trends of correlation were also observed innon-stress environments. Grain yield exhibited a significantly positive correlation with the number of tillers per plant (r = 0.48*), filled grains per panicle (r =0.55*) and spikelet fertility (r= 0.69*). Therefore, the results suggest that these traits can be used for grain yield selection.

In Malaysia, rice mutant varieties that are genetically altered to confer resistance against blast disease have been substantially developed through mutational breeding program. However, due to the limited accessible information on the mutant lines, mutant gene variants corresponding to the disease resistance and other useful agronomic traits are yet to be exploited. Here, we conducted whole genome re-sequencing of blast resistance with kernel elongation traits in mutant line, Mahsuri Mutant (87,639,446 bp raw reads), and its parental line, Mahsuri (85,156,783 bp raw reads) using Illumina Novaseq 6000 sequencing platform with 30x sequencing coverage. The generated genome sequences are aimed to facilitate the discovery of causal mutation and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to the intended traits. The identified SNPs can be further employed to develop allele-specific SNP molecular markers to locate the mutant gene regions. The NGS data obtained (FASTQ format) of the parental and mutant lines have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under sequence read archive (SRA) xwith accession numbers SRR24388814 (Mahsuri) and SRR22952097 (Mahsuri Mutant) respectively.

Academic life in the present era is subject to several occupational stressors, including increased workloads, reduced research funding, tenuous career paths, and family-work conflicts. Such stressors affect academics’ quality of life, wellbeing, and job satisfaction, and women are particularly vulnerable. There is, however, a dearth of information on such issues in the Arab World. We conducted a scoping review to map the current body of knowledge related to the institutional and socio-cultural factors that influence the wellbeing status of women working in academia in Arab countries. Fourteen articles were included. Several challenges threatening women’s wellbeing in academia were identified including institutional factors (i.e., human resource policies and laws, workplace empowerment, and academic mentoring) and socio-cultural factors (i.e., work-life balance, culture and religion). Current human resources, policies, and labor laws do not adequately support maternal or complex family roles contributing to work-life imbalances and contribute to poor mental health outcomes for academic women working in academia in Arab countries. Although some of these challenges may stem from lingering cultural stereotypes about gender roles, this review highlights the need for professional development and mentoring programs for academic women in Arab countries, in addition to supportive institutional laws, policies, and resources for empowerment of women in academia.

Induced mutation for the creation of desirable traits through chronic gamma irradiation provides an opportunity for the selection and development of new chili varieties. This study was conducted to assess the effects of different doses of chronic gamma irradiation on morpho-physiological traits in chili. Ten plants from each variety were exposed to different doses of chronic gamma irradiation for 277.02 h at three weeks after germination under gamma greenhouse facilities, with accumulative dose; 185.61Gy, 83.11Gy, 47.096Gy, 30.474Gy, 19.4Gy, 13.9Gy, 11.1Gy, 8.31Gy, 5.54Gy) and 2.77Gy respectively. Highly significant differences were observed among doses (Rings) of chronic gamma irradiation expressed in mean values for all investigated traits. Relatively moderate doses of chronic gamma irradiation represented by doses 47.096 Gy (Ring 4) and 19.40 Gy (Ring 6) resulted in significant stimulation for most of the studied characters. The highest heritability was recorded in days to flowering at 99.88 while the lowest was observed in fruit dry weight at 34.66 %. High genetic advance were recorded for most of the quantitative traits studied. In addition, a highly significant positive correlation was observed between total fruit per plant, total number of fruit per plant, plant height, fruit fresh weight, number of secondary branches, chlorophyll a, fruit dry weight, total chlorophyll content, stem diameter, fruit length and fruit girth. With increasing chronic gamma dose, mutagenic efficiency and efficacy generally increased. Induced variety of desirable features will considerably increase the chilli's amelioration through mutation breeding, leading to the development of improved varieties. The results of this research offer valuable information for the use of chronic gamma radiation in the mutations breeding of Capsicum annuum L., which will be advantageous for future breeding programs.

This investigation aimed to establish the geographical traceability of Malaysian rice by assessing the elemental composition in paddy soil. Multi-element determination in combination with a chemometric approach was applied to evaluate the elemental concentrations of paddy soil from granaries cultivated with the same rice variety and to assess the relationship between elements in the soil and rice (SAR) system. A total of 29 elements (aluminum, arsenic, barium, bromine, calcium, chlorine, cobalt, chromium, cesium, europium, iron, gallium, hafnium, potassium, lanthanum, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, rubidium, antimony, scandium, samarium, thorium, titanium, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium and zinc) were successfully determined in paddy soil from Kedah, Selangor and Langkawi by neutron activation analysis. A significant difference (P < 0.05) between 18 elements in the soil samples was obtained. The chemometric approaches of principal component and linear discriminant analyses demonstrated clear discrimination and highly corrected classification (100%) of the soil samples. A high classification (98.1%) was also achieved by assessing 10 elements (aluminum, arsenic, bromine, chlorine, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, rubidium and zinc), which similarly applied to rice geographical origin determination. Similar elements in SAR were also observed for differences in the pattern of correlation and bioaccumulation factor between the granaries. Furthermore, the generalized Procrustes analysis showed a 98% consensus between SAR and clear differences between the studied regions. The canonical correlation analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the chemical profile of SAR (r2 = 0.88, P < 0.001). Therefore, the current work model provides a reliable assessment to establish rice provenance.

The genomics and genetic information of Malaysian rice (Oryza sativa L.) and their mutant lines are very limited. Therefore, the genome resequencing of two drought and submergence tolerant mutant rice lines, NMR152 and NMR151 and their parental line, MR219 was performed using Illumina Hi Seq 4000 platform with 20x sequencing coverage to facilitate the identification of causal mutations and the discovery of candidate variants of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from their genome. The identification of SNPs would be useful in developing functional SNP markers related to drought and submergences resistance traits. Genome sequence data (FASTQ format) of the mutants and their parental line have been deposited into the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under sequence read archive (SRA) data with accessions SRR20824202 (NMR152), SRR20995190 (NMR151) and SRR21043964 (MR219), respectively.

AbstractHigh yield potential in rice is indirectly determined by yield-related traits. These traits are complex and regulated by several genes whose expression is affected by environmental conditions. It is of great importance to disclose the genetic relationships between yield and its yield components for multi-trait improvement in rice. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the genetic variability and inheritance patterns of yield and yield attributed traits in BC2F3 rice lines to identify the ideal lines from the selection. A total of 36 improved versions of blast resistant plants in the BC2F3 population used in this study were developed from a single cross between a high yielding mutant rice variety but susceptible to blast, MR264, and Malaysian local variety donor for Pi-7(t) and Pikh blast resistant genes. Analysis of variance showed that all traits were significantly different for lines except grain length and grain width. High heritability and genetic advance were recorded for plant height, number of tillers, filled grain, 1000-grain weight and seed setting rate. A significant and positive correlation was recorded with most evaluated traits, except for grain length and grain width. Thirty-six BC2F3 lines were clustered into four major groups and the first three principal components (PC3) contributed 71.13% of the total variation, with 1000-seed weight, yield/hill and filled grain being the main discriminatory characters. There was an adequate genetic variability in the lines, and 1000-grain weight, yield/hill and filled grain traits could be considered for indirect selection in breeding programs in next generations.

The increasing demand for chilli has drawn the interest of chilli breeders to improve the production of this crop. Mutation breeding is applied in many crops improvement programs as it can rapidly create the variability of inherited traits in crops. This study evaluates the effects of irradiation doses of radioactive cobalt (60Co) γ rays on seed performances, morphological characteristics and yield of chilli (Capsicum annum L.) var. Kulai grown under laboratory and glasshouse conditions. The chilli seeds were treated with gamma radiation at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 Gy. The effect of gamma-rays was assessed towards germination, survival rate and several morphological characteristics. From the observation, seeds from all treatments were germinated (100%) in 10 days. However, the gamma radiation affects the survival rate, fruit length, fruit weight, plant height, and most of the results were lower upon exposure to higher doses particularly 100 Gy and above. Germination rate, plant height, plant survival rate and other morphological characteristics of the irradiated plant were observed to improve at lower doses (40, 60 and 80 Gy). Apparently, lower gamma-ray doses (<100 Gy) were more suitable to study the effect on seed germination as well as other morphological characters of Capsicum annuum L. especially Kulai variety. Mutagenic dose of 300 Gy was estimated as the LD50 for Kulai variety. The findings of this study provide useful information for mutation breeding in Capsicum annuum L. using gamma radiation for future breeding programmes in chilli.

Blast disease caused by a pathogenic fungus, Magnaphorthe oryzae, is the most destructive disease and has resulted in more than 50% of crop losses worldwide, including in Malaysia. The present study was conducted to investigate genetic variability among 36 advanced lines of MR264 × PS2 rice with blast resistance genes introduced at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Traits such as days of maturity, plant height, grain width, and seed setting rate exhibited negative skewness in this study, indicating a doubling of gene effects. Seed setting rate and 1000 grain weight showed positive kurtosis, indicating gene interactions. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was slightly higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits, indicating that environmental influences affect the expression of these traits. High heritability associated with high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean was observed for filled grains per panicle. In addition, the second-highest value for high heritability and the high genetic advance was observed for the number of tillers. Cluster and principal component analysis revealed that 36 advanced lines were grouped into four clusters based on ten agromorphological traits. Clusters A and C had higher mean values for most of the traits studied than clusters B and D. Desirable recombinants for higher yields with a broad genetic base can be generated by using cross lines from different clusters.

It is crucial to assess genetically superior parents when developing novel hybrids. This experiment was conducted to find out the diversity of 27 Capsicum annuum mutant lines derived from two varieties.To achieve the objective, 23 morpho-physiological and yield traits were recorded through two planting seasons. Highly significant differences (p < 0.01) were recorded among the studied traits. There was a strong to moderately positive phenotypic association between yield and all other morphological traits except first bifurcation length, stem diameter, pedicle length, flowering date, and maturity date. A higher Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV) and Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV), combined with moderate to high heritability and high hereditary progress, have been found in the number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, and number of seeds per fruit. High heritability was found in yield characteristics, vis-à-visnumber of seeds per fruit, number of fruits per plant, and indicated high genetic advance. The studied genotypes were divided into six groups after the cluster analysis. Based on the correlation matrix of 23 quantitative characteristics, principal component analysis revealed that the percentage of variation for PC1 and PC2 is 28%and 19%, respectively, andPC1 represents the largest percentage of the overall total variation. The calculated genetic distance also explains the potential of heterosis breeding. The revealed findings might be helpful for breeders to target quantitative characters and the parental lines of C. annuum during the execution of their future breeding programmes for developing high-yielding and climate-resilient chilli varieties.

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is one of the traditional crops with enormous sources of dietary fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals contents. Mutation breeding using gamma radiation is one of the most preferred approaches used to induce mutation in taro studies. Molecular markers are widely used to detect such induced mutation and genetic diversity in plants. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate genetic diversity among irradiated taro genotypes in comparison with standard taro variety by using simple sequence repeats (SSR). A total of 200 of M1V4 taro genotypes were used in this study derived from segregating population of chronic-gamma irradiated taro cv Wangi with different ranges of gamma dose. The agro-morphological results revealed that genotype exposure in T6 (120.12 Gy) has the highest plant height (54.53 cm), leaf length (32.24 cm), and leaf width (24.87 cm). Corm's weight was decreased significantly with an increased dose of treatment. All mutants recorded a lower number of corm weight as compared with the control genotype. Out of 10 SSR primers tested, 9 primers have successfully amplified 43 amplicons. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values of SSR markers ranged from 0.20 to 0.80. Cluster analysis classified taro into 3 subgroups mutant and parent genotypes. The results clearly showed that SSR markers are important tools to distinguish mutant genotypes and confirmed their usefulness for phylogenetic studies. Finally, the present investigation indicated that genotypes exposed by T6 (120.12 Gy) are promising high-yielding genotypes that can be recommended as new cultivars and possessed an attractive phenotype appropriate for ornamental use.

Bambara groundnut is a highly nutritious underutilized legume with enormous potential to sustain food security in resource-poor countries. However, its potential for improvement through conventional breeding (< 2% success rate) limitation due to the nature of the flowers. Thus, the most viable method of improving this crop is by creating genetic variability through induced mutagenesis. The present study was conducted to evaluate the radiosensitivity of two Bambara groundnut varieties irradiated with acute and chronic gamma irradiations to determine the lethal dose (LD) and growth reduction dose (GR). Healthy seeds of both varieties were exposed to acute gamma irradiation using Cesium-137 at 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 250, and 300 Gy. For chronic irradiation, two-week-old seedlings of the two genotypes were exposed to accumulated doses of 0, 8.52, 17.04, 35.56, 34.09, 42.61, 59.65, 93.74, 144.87, 255.64, and 570.94 Gy, respectively, in Gamma Green House (GGH) for 60 days. The result from the variance analysis indicated highly significant differences (P < 0.01) for all evaluated traits except for internode length. A linear regression model was developed to determine the mean LD and GR of both genotypes. The established lethal doses (LD (25), (50), (75)) for acute gamma irradiation on Ex-Sokoto variety were 75, 160, and 250 Gy while 68, 148, and 227 Gy were recorded for Karo variety, respectively. For chronic irradiation, the established growth reduction doses for ExSokoto were 47, 250, and 444 Gy, whereas 70, 264, and 452 Gy were observed in Karo. Variations were observed between the gamma-irradiated genotypes and the methods of irradiations. Generally, the growth, development, and survival rate of Bambara groundnut increase with a decrease in gamma-irradiation doses. The established LD and GR doses from this study can be utilized in large-scale mutagenesis breeding programs for generating a wide range of mutants in Bambara groundnut.

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an herbaceous crop and plays an important role as common spices and vegetables. Pepper (Capsicum spp.) is one of the most cost-effective and agricultural vegetables in the world. The most significant characteristics of peppers, as spices and in various pharmacological uses, are pungency and oleoresin (color). Cabsicum annuum L. is widely used as a medicinal herb and in the Mediterranean diet (at the present, C. annuum var. acuminatum Fingerh. and Capsicum frutescens L. are considered synonyms of C. annuum L.). Capsicum annuum includes a wide range of carotenoids including capsanthin, capsorubin, beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, lutein, fanthophyl, and xanthophyll, and capsaicinoid. However, it remains limited in production due to the lack of development in varieties especially under severe climatic circumstances such as drought, high temperature, or salt. Some reports were provided through distinct traditional approaches for genetic improvement. A combination of traditional and molecular breeding, especially breeding for heterosis, might be a good option for developing a novel genotype for ecologically adversely affected niche adaption. This review summarizes the current chilli breeding approaches with their drawbacks and highlights some recent classical efforts for the improvement of the crop. This would be the milestone for the breeders in the planning of a successful chilli breeding program to combat the adverse ecological condition. Thus, the information gathered in this article might be considered as the cornerstone of Chilli breeders at their ongoing and sustainable future programs as well.

Genotype evaluation for stability and high yield in rice is an important factor for sustainable rice production and food security. These evaluations are essential, especially when the breeding objective is to release rice with high yields, adaptability and stability for commercial cultivation. To achieve this objective, this study was carried out to select high-yielding rice genotypes induced by ion beam irradiation. Seeds of the rice variety 'MR219' were subjected to different doses of 320 MeV carbon-ion beam irradiation to determine the optimum dose to produce high mutant frequency and spectrum. The optimum dose was 60 Gy. After several cycles of selection and fixation between 2009 and 2014 (M0-M6), six prospective lines with desirable characters were selected at the M6 generation. The selected mutant lines along with other mutant varieties were then tested at five locations in two planting seasons to select high-yielding and stable genotypes. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications across the locations and seasons. The pooled analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences (p ≤ 0.01, 0.05) among genotypes, among locations and among genotypes by location by season (G×L×S interaction) for the yield traits except for seasons and genotype by season (G×S interaction). Based on univariate and multivariate stability parameters, rice genotypes were classified into three main categories. The first group comprised genotypes with high yield stability along with high yield per hectare. These genotypes include ML4 and ML6 and are widely adapted to diverse environmental conditions. One line exhibited high yield per hectare but low stability; this genotype (ML9) is suitable for specific environments. The last group had low yield per hectare and high stability and included 'MR220', 'Binadhan4' and 'Binadhan7'. This final group is more suitable for breeding specific traits or perhaps has yield component compensation. Hence, rice mutant lines ML4 and ML6 were recommended for commercial cultivation in Malaysia.

The carbon ion-beam has emerged as a novel physical mutagen for creating genetic variability and crop improvement. In this study, seeds of a high-yielding pyramided rice line MR219-PL-5 were exposed to carbon ion beam irradiation at 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 Gy. The radiosensitivity test was conducted to determine the optimum dose of carbon ion beam irradiation based on the lethal dose 50% (LD50) using Sandwich Blotter Technique. The biological responses of carbon-ion beam irradiation were also observed in other characteristics such as germination rate (GeR), survival rate (SR), growth rate (GRoR), shoot length (SL), root length (RL), seedling height (SH), days to flowering (DTF), fertility rate (FR) and thousand-grains weight (TGW). Based on the polynomial curve of SR graph, the lethal dose 50% (LD50) value was 86.12 Gy. However, the optimum dose range of carbon ion-beam irradiation was between 40 and 60 Gy as these two doses recorded the highest SR, 63 and 67%, respectively. Furthermore, the shoulder dose in this study was 60 Gy since SR decreased significantly at higher doses. M1 individuals irradiated at 40 and 60 Gy had the best biological responses where significant differences were found for SR, SL, RL, GRoR, SH, DTF and FR at these two doses compared to the other doses. Further studies on M2 and M3 populations could help to identify potential individuals as well as to understand the inheritance of each trait of interest from one generation to the next.

Rice, (Oryza sativa L.) account as the second cereal most cultivated in the world. Unfortunately, global rice production is rendered by significant number abiotic and biotic stresses. Breeding for resistant variety through conventional breeding is an economical method; generally, it takes at least 10 years to release a new rice variety. Advance technology in molecular marker had revolutionized and irreversibly changes the disciplines of plant genetic and breeding. Integration of DNA-based markers in selection process enhances the effectiveness and accuracy of conventional plant breeding. It offers a novel tool for discovering and tagging alleles and genes specifically in plant. Ubiquitous of DNA marker-trait associations for diverse crops species are available with the findings of many quantitative trait loci (QTLs) mapping studies. The linkage drags, and time-consuming in conventional breeding can minimize with the application of DNA markers in plant breeding. The utilization of DNA marker in QTL mapping, MAS and gene pyramiding has been investigated. In this chapter, we discussed the recent utilizing markers in rice breeding program against abiotic and biotic stresses. In a few decades, molecular marker assisted breeding (MAB) provide a boundless task for breeders in attaining an important impact on crop development.

Genetic diversity has been a critical step in knowing the different growth traits for selection and varietal improvement of rice. The present study aimed to estimate the phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients among the growth traits and to work out how to select between traits. Three field experiments were carried out in Malaysia during the cropping season of 2016/2018. Sixteen advanced blast resistant rice lines were studied in order to find out the genetic diversity in some quantitative characters and to find out the relationship between yield and yield related components by using the multivariate analysis. The field trials were conducted in a split-plot design replicated three times in a plot of 35 × 28.5 m2. The planting distant was 25 × 25 cm spacing and the plot size was 2 × 1.5 m2 unit for genotype in each replication. There was a significant difference among the characters, most of the genotypes responded significantly. The high phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), heritability, relative distance and genetic advance indicated that different traits especially tonnes per hectare (Tha), grain weight per plot (GWTPP) and kilogram per plot (kgplot) significantly influenced the yield trait. In addition, the genotypes were grouped into 9 major clusters based on the assessed characters by using the UPGMA dendrogram. Group 1 with Group VII could be hybridized in order to attain higher heterosis or the best between the genotypes, which becomes helpful in developing a good selection in rice.