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. 2020 Jan 7;15(1):e0227421.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227421. eCollection 2020.

Pyramiding QTLs controlling tolerance against drought, salinity, and submergence in rice through marker assisted breeding

Valarmathi Muthu  1 , Ragavendran Abbai  1 , Jagadeeshselvam Nallathambi  1 , Hifzur Rahman  1 , Sasikala Ramasamy  1 , Rohit Kambale  1 , Thiyagarajan Thulasinathan  1 , Bharathi Ayyenar  1 , Raveendran Muthurajan  1
Affiliations

Pyramiding QTLs controlling tolerance against drought, salinity, and submergence in rice through marker assisted breeding

Valarmathi Muthu et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Increases in rice productivity are significantly hampered because of the increase in the occurrence of abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, and submergence. Developing a rice variety with inherent tolerance against these major abiotic stresses will help achieve a sustained increase in rice production under unfavorable conditions. The present study was conducted to develop abiotic stress-tolerant rice genotypes in the genetic background of the popular rice variety Improved White Ponni (IWP) by introgressing major effect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring tolerance against drought (qDTY1.1, qDTY2.1), salinity (Saltol), and submergence (Sub1) through a marker assisted backcross breeding approach. Genotyping of early generation backcrossed inbred lines (BILs) resulted in the identification of three progenies, 3-11-9-2, 3-11-11-1, and 3-11-11-2, possessing all four target QTLs and maximum recovery of the recurrent parent genome (88.46%). BILs exhibited consistent agronomic and grain quality characters compared to those of IWP and enhanced performance against dehydration, salinity, and submergence stress compared with the recurrent parent IWP. BILs exhibited enhanced tolerance against salinity during germination and increased shoot length, root length, and vigor index compared to those of IWP. All three BILs exhibited reduced symptoms of injury because of salinity (NaCl) and dehydration (PEG) than did IWP. At 12 days of submergence stress, BILs exhibited enhanced survival and greater recovery, whereas IWP failed completely. BILs were found to exhibit on par grain and cooking quality characteristics with their parents. Results of this study clearly demonstrated the effects of the target QTLs in reducing damage caused by drought, salinity, and submergence and lead to the development of a triple stress tolerant version of IWP.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Pseudo back cross breeding plan for the development of multiple abiotic stress-tolerant version of IWP.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Parental polymorphism for the markers linked to the target QTLs.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Foreground selection of BC1F1 progenies using markers linked to target traits.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Graphical genotyping of 3 superior BILs showing the extent of IWP genome recovery.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Performance of BILs and IWP under different levels of salinity during germination.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Performance of BILs and IWP against 100 mM NaCl stress under hydroponic conditions.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Screening for drought tolerance using hydroponics.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Differential response of BILs and parents under control and stress (-0.5 MPa PEG) conditions.
Fig 9
Fig 9
Responses of BILs and parents under control conditions (a) and 12 days after de-submergence (b).
Fig 10
Fig 10. Cooking quality characteristics of BILs, CBMAS14065 and IWP.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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