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The intensity of rice false smut disease in selected states of northwest and south India was studied. In northern Indian states as a whole, disease incidence (percentage of false smut-infected tillers) varied from 2% to 75%. In the state of Haryana, maximum infection was recorded on hybrids like PA 6444 and PA 6129 while in Punjab state, 10-20% disease incidence was recorded in popular inbred rice varieties like PR 114, PA 116 and PAU 201. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the disease incidence varied from 5% to 85%. A heavy incidence of the disease was noticed in variety BPT 5204 and due to this, the air above the infected field gave a black smoky appearance from a distance as a result of release of spore mass in the atmosphere. In severe cases the number of infected grains reached even more than 100 per panicle. The pathogen Ustilaginoidea virens was isolated in potato dextrose agar medium and was characterized by both pathogenicity test and molecular analysis. Under glasshouse conditions, when a conidial suspension of the pathogen was injected during boot leaf stage of the rice variety TN1, typical smut balls were observed. The identity of the pathogen was further confirmed through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis using U. virens-specific internal transcribed spacer (ITS) primers. The primer pair US 1-5/US3-3 and US2-5/US4-3 amplified 380 bp and 232 bp product, respectively, which are typical for the U. virens fungus.

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Broadening of the genetic base for identification and transfer of genes for resistance to insect pests and diseases from wild relatives of rice is an important strategy in resistance breeding programs across the world. An accession of Oryza nivara, International Rice Germplasm Collection (IRGC) accession number 105710, was identified to exhibit high level and broad-spectrum resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. In order to study the genetics of resistance and to tag and map the resistance gene or genes present in IRGC 105710, it was crossed with the bacterial blight (BB)-susceptible varieties 'TN1' and 'Samba Mahsuri' (SM) and then backcrossed to generate backcross mapping populations. Analysis of these populations and their progeny testing revealed that a single dominant gene controls resistance in IRGC 105710. The BC(1)F(2) population derived from the cross IRGC 105710/TN1//TN1 was screened with a set of 72 polymorphic simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers distributed across the rice genome and the resistance gene was coarse mapped on chromosome 7 between the SSR markers RM5711 and RM6728 at a genetic distance of 17.0 and 19.3 centimorgans (cM), respectively. After analysis involving 49 SSR markers located between the genomic interval spanned by RM5711 and RM6728, and BC(2)F(2) population consisting of 2,011 individuals derived from the cross IRGC 105710/TN1//TN1, the gene was fine mapped between two SSR markers (RMWR7.1 and RMWR7.6) located at a genetic distance of 0.9 and 1.2 cM, respectively, from the gene and flanking it. The linkage distances were validated in a BC(1)F(2) mapping population derived from the cross IRGC 105710/SM//2 × SM. The BB resistance gene present in the O. nivara accession was identified to be novel based on its unique map location on chromosome 7 and wider spectrum of BB resistance; this gene has been named Xa33. The genomic region between the two closely flanking SSR markers was in silico analyzed for putatively expressed candidate genes. In total, eight genes were identified in the region and a putative gene encoding serinethreonine kinase appears to be a candidate for the Xa33 gene.

IR 58025A is a very popular wild-abortive cytoplasmic male sterile (WA-CMS) line of rice and is extensively used for hybrid rice breeding. However, IR 58025A and many hybrids derived from it possess mild aroma (undesirable in some parts of India) and are highly susceptible to bacterial blight (BB) and blast diseases. To improve IR 58025A for BB and blast resistance, we have introgressed a major dominant gene conferring resistance against BB (i.e. Xa21) and blast (i.e. Pi54) into IR 58025B, the maintainer line of IR 58025A. An introgression line of Samba Mahsuri (i.e. SM2154) possessing Xa21 and Pi54 genes in homozygous condition and fine-grain type was used as donor parent, and backcross breeding strategy was adopted for targeted introgression of the resistance genes. PCR-based molecular markers tightly linked to Xa21 and Pi54 were used for selection of BB-and blast-resistant lines, while closely linked markers were used for identification of backcross-derived plants devoid of Rf4 and aroma. At BC 2 F 5 , four backcross-derived lines possessing resistance against BB and blast, devoid of aroma, high yield, short plant stature, long-slender grain type and with recurrent parent genome recovery ranging from 88.8% to 98.6% were selected and advanced for further evaluation. The improved versions of IR 58025B, viz. behaved as perfect maintainers when testcrossed with WA-CMS lines. Agronomically superior lines of improved IR 58025B are being converted to CMS line through backcrossing for developing high-yielding and biotic stress-resistant rice hybrids.

The present study was carried out with the objective to validate the molecular markers, which have been previously reported to be linked to fertility restorer (Rf) gene(s) for WA-CMS lines of rice. Two mapping populations involving fertility restorer lines for WA-cytoplasm, viz.

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