Brown Planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens Stål Resistance in Backcross Derived Rice Lines

A prominent rice pest, brown planthopper (BPH) significantly reduces the grain yield in rice across the globe and employing chemical pesticides leads to unwarranted environmental issues. Breeding for BPH resistance is an essential strategy to mitigate the losses caused by them. Host plant resistance through marker assisted selection is a chief strategy to lessen harms caused by BPH and boost rice production. In this study, we have analyzed BPH resistance in the BC1F5 population, which is a backcross derivative of improved CO51 and Ptb33. Improved CO51 has already been introgressed with bacterial blight resistant genes xa5, xa13 and Xa21 and blast resistant gene Pi54 via marker assisted selection (MAS). Ptb33 was used as the donor parent to incorporate BPH resistant genes bph2 and Bph32 to this CO51 background. The genotypically and phenotypically selected 26 lines of BC1F5 generation were screened against BPH along with parents and checks. The bioassay of the population exhibited a range of variation for BPH resistance. Among the 26 near isogenic lines, 18 (2 resistant and 16 are moderately resistant) and eight showed susceptible to moderate susceptible reaction. The 18 resistant lines were further multiplied and are now in hot spot screening.