Marker-assisted Breeding and F3 Progenies Characterization for Improving Local Rice Variety “Tinggong”

Background: Tinggong is an indigenous rice variety in Aceh Province known for its excellent cooking quality and tolerance to adverse climatic conditions such as drought. However, this local rice has a long lifespan ranging from 150-160 days and is susceptible to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial leaf blight (BLB). Methods: To improve the performance of Tinggong, the variety was cross-breed with the isogenic line IRBB27 which confers Xa-27 and sd-1 genes. The inheritance of both of these genes and the changes in their agronomic character and the resistance to Xoo were analyzed in the F3 progenies to identify the presence of both Xa-27 and sd-1 genes in the F3 progenies and the implication of their phenotypic characters. Result: The results showed that 58.33% of progenies inherited both Xa-27 and sd-1 genes. Of these, 4 progenies consisting #T5, T6, T29 and T30 are the potential to develop as they show both genotypic and phenotypic improvement. The 4 progenies produce earlier (116-120 days after sowing) with plant height 109-128 cm and more resistance to Xoo (lesion length 2.08-2.42 cm), the weight of grains per hill reached 26.24-34.12 g or yield potential (10.40-43.55%) higher compared to their parent Tinggong.
