Chapters authored
Evaluation of Resistance of US Rice Breeding Lines to the Rice Blast Pathogen
Rice blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (anamorph: Pyricularia oryzae), is a ubiquitous disease that threatens rice production in the USA and worldwide. Growing resistant cultivars is the most economical and effective way to manage this disease. Multiple races exist in the M. oryzae population in the USA. It is necessary to know the resistance spectrum of rice cultivars to the prevalent rice blast races in the areas where they are grown. Twelve isolates of M. oryzae collected from the southern US rice-growing region were used in this study. The genetic diversity of these isolates was evaluated with genetic and molecular methods, and the pathogenicity to different rice blast resistance genes was determined by the disease reaction of two sets of near-isogenic lines containing one blast R gene per line. From 2005 to 2016, about 200 Uniform Regional Rice Nursery (URRN) breeding lines have been tested with 9–12 reference isolates annually, and a total of 2377 breeding lines have been tested. The varieties with good resistance to rice blast disease have been identified. The results could be useful for the management of rice blast disease in the southern US rice production area.
Part of the book: Protecting Rice Grains in the Post-Genomic Era