Morpho-molecular investigation of recurrent parent genome recovery of Sub1 introgressed advance lines of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abiotic stresses are known to affect rice productivity and production world over. Developing abiotic stress tolerant rice varieties with sustainable production is a major challenge for the rice breeders. Flooding damages the rice crop in coastal areas the world over. The present investigation was carried out to estimate genome recovery in 32 BC2F3 lines comprising of 24 deriving from the cross Ranjit x Swarna-Sub1 and 8 from of the cross Bahadur x Swarna-Sub1. The BC2F3 introgressed Sub1 lines exhibited tolerance in submerged conditions. Background recovery of the recurrent parent was accomplished in terms of sixty-two morpho-physiological characters recorded. The best lines with >74 % background recovery in morpho-physiological characters were selected and analyzed with 69 polymorphic molecular markers which exhibited >86.68 % background recovery of the recurrent parent genome. The advance BC2F3 line E-6 and 1189-1 in the background of Ranjit and Bahadur exhibited the highest similarity towards the recurrent parents. Significant variation was recorded in the Sub1 introgressed advanced BC2F3 lines on that account. These advanced BC2F3 lines are expected to benefit the flood-affected farmers of Assam and other flood-affected parts of India.