Integration of conventional and marker-assisted selections (MAS) under rainfed lowland rice breeding program for north and northeast Thailand

Abstract

Breeding program combining of conventional and marker-assisted selections (MAS) has been developed in collaborating between Thai Rice Department and BIOTEC (Thailand). The objectives are to improve KDML105 and RD6 to be resistant to blast and bacterial leaf blight diseases, brown plant hopper, drought, flood and salinity whereas eating quality has to be maintained as recipients. BIOTEC takes action on developing of populations and selecting by MAS whereas Thai Rice Department takes action on field selection for agronomic characteristics and evaluation of the performance of lines under different rainfed lowland environments in northeast and upper north also farmers evaluation for their preference. This poster shows progress of the project conducted by Thai Rice Department part. The activities include selection of segregating population, rapid generation advance, grain yield evaluation (on-station and on-farm), screening for disease and insect resistance, grain quality evaluation and farmer's preference evaluation. Within 2 years (2005-2006), there were several populations have been selected and evaluated under field condition. It has been found that integration of conventional and MAS is an effective approach for rice breeding. The MAS is an effective approach in selecting of desirable traits for developing populations whereas conventional selection in the field is required for selecting of agronomic characteristics. Results in 2006 showed that KDML105 backcross lines for flood tolerance performed better under flood condition and farmer field under rainfed condition than KDML105 whereas grain and eating qualities are remained similar to KDML105.