Marker-assisted introgression of resistance to fusarium wilt race 2 in Pusa 256, an elite cultivar of desi chickpea

Abstract

Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris causes extensive damage to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in many parts of the world. In the central part of India, pathogen race 2 (Foc 2) causes severe yield losses. We initiated molecular marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) using desi cultivar, Vijay, as a donor to introgress resistance to this race (Foc2) in Pusa 256, another elite desi cultivar of chickpea. To confirm introgression of resistance for this race, foreground selection was undertaken using two SSR markers (TA 37 and TA110), with background selection to observe the recovery of recurrent parent genome using 45 SSRs accommodated in 8 multiplexes. F plants were confirmed with molecular markers and backcrossed with Pusa 256, followed by cycles of foreground and background selection at each stage to generate 161 plants in BCF during the period 2009-2013. Similarly, 46 BCF plants were also generated in another set during the same period. On the basis of foreground selection, 46 plants were found homozygotes in BCF. Among them, 17 plants recorded >91% background recovery with the highest recovery percentage of 96%. In BCF also, 14 hybrid plants recorded a background recovery of >85% with the highest background recovery percentage of >94%. The identified plants were selfed to obtain 1341 BCF and 2198 BCF seeds which were screened phenotypically for resistance to fusarium wilt (race 2) besides doing marker analysis. Finally, 17 BCF and 11 BCF lines were obtained which led to identification of 5 highly resistant lines of Pusa 256 with Foc 2 gene introgressed in them. Development of these lines will help in horizontal as well as vertical expansion of chickpea in central part of India.

Accelerating genetic gains in legumes for the development of prosperous smallholder agriculture: integrating genomics, phenotyping, systems modelling and agronomy

“…Genomics-assisted breeding (GAB; Varshney et al, 2005) was proposed to integrate genomics in breeding and it has been quite successful for several traits in cereals (Septiningsih et al, 2013;Varshney et al, 2006) and legumes (Varshney, 2016;Pratap et al, 2017). Recently, Reynolds and Langridge (2016) have suggested crossing parents with different complex but complementary traits to achieve cumulative gene action for yield, while selecting progeny using remote sensing in combination with genomic selection.…”

Super Annigeri 1 and improved JG 74: two Fusarium wilt-resistant introgression lines developed using marker-assisted backcrossing approach in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

“…The use of MABC enabled to achieve 95% RPGR in early generations (BC 2 F 1 derived from Annigeri 1 × WR 315 cross), which could be otherwise achieved only in BC 3 F 1 and BC 4 F 1 through conventional breeding method. Successful application of MABC approach in chickpea in introgressing drought (Varshney et al 2013b ), FW (Varshney et al 2014c ; Pratap et al 2017 ), Ascochyta blight (Varshney et al 2014c ) into elite cultivars has unequivocally proved the advantage of MABC in breeding improved cultivars. In chickpea, superior lines with enhanced resistance to foc1 (Varshney et al 2014c ) and foc2 (Pratap et al 2017 ) were developed in the genetic backgrounds of C 214 and Pusa 256 elite chickpea cultivars, respectively.…”

Integrating genomics for chickpea improvement: achievements and opportunities

“…In addition to the above-mentioned released chickpea varieties, several molecular breeding lines, developed using the MABC approach for drought tolerance and FW resistance in diverse background (Varshney et al 2014b;Pratap et al 2017), are being assessed in multi-location trials by ICAR-AICRP on chickpea. These lines with high-yield performance and enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses demonstrate the potential of integrating genomics with breeding efforts to develop superior climate-resilient varieties in chickpea.…”