Marker Assisted Development Of Effective Fertility Restorers Suitable For Use In Temperate Three-Line Hybrids

Identification of restorers and maintainers from genetically diverse materials is a prerequisite for hybrid rice development. Generally restorers and maintainers are identified by evaluation of test cross hybrids for pollen and spikelet fertility. Phenotypic evaluation is a cumbersome, labour intensive and time consuming method. Also, in our previous studies the number of germplasm lines carrying traits for restoration seemed to be limited. Therefore, present study aimed to transfer Rf-4 gene from Basmati to one of our promising temperate background by employing Marker assisted backcross breeding. A genotype G-8 was crossed to elite WA-restorer line PRR-78 and were derived at least four lines carrying gene Rf-4 in BC1F, with the help of gene linked marker RM6100. These lines were phenotyped for pollen and spikelet fertility restoration after crossing these in Line x tester fashion along with nine other lines with CMS lines SKAU-7A, SKAU-11A and IR68888A. Out of 13 lines two of the lines viz., PRR-78, SKAU-K-R-3-6-11 and SICAUK-R-3-6-16 showed complete restoration coupled with high degree of heterosis for grain yield. The lines could be useful in development of three-line hybrids suitable for temperate high altitude areas beyond 1600 to 2000 m amsl.