TEKNOLOGI PIRAMIDA GEN TANAMAN PADI DALAM MENGHADAPI PERUBAHAN IKLIM GLOBAL

In the attempt to maintain and hopefully increase national rice production, it is necessary to prepare agriculture sector in facing the impacts of climate change, land degradation, dry land, flooding, slowing production, and population growth rate. Adaptation efforts play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of food security. The development of adaptive rice varieties to abiotic stresses specifically drought and submergence stresses are expected to minimize damage, survive stress, continue to grow and produce. Development of Inpari 30 rice varieties tolerant to submergence to drought tolerant to have a broader spectrum of tolerance through marker-assisted backcrossing methods with the gene pyramid approach. The development of new variety using Inpari 30 as the background is one of the applications of pyramiding gene in Indonesia. Combining conventional breeding with molecular markers and phenotypic selection (drought and submergence) is expected to produce rice lines tolerant to drought and submergence with stabil yields and accelerate the homozygosity of the genome in the third generation. This is an alternative solution to dealing with climate change to support the national food security program.

Improvement of rice blast resistance by developing monogenic lines, two-gene pyramids and three-gene pyramid through MAS

Background Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) is one of the most destructive diseases in rice production. Development of resistant varieties through pyramiding of resistant (R) genes is considered as an effective strategy to cope with the disease. However, is it really essential to pyramid more R genes in a specific ecological regions? To answer this question, a set of rice improved lines were developed in this study. Afterwards, the blast disease resistance and agronomic traits of the recurrent parent (RP), donor parents (DPs) and improved lines were investigated. Results We developed seven improved lines, comprising three monogenic lines, three two-gene pyramids and one three-gene pyramid, by introgression of R gene(s) into a common genetic background using marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). Based on 302 SSR markers, the recurrent genome of the seven improved lines reached a range of 89.1 to 95.5%, with the average genome recovery of 92.9%. The pathogenicity assays inoculated with 32 different blast isolates under artificial conditions showed that the resistance spectrum of all the improved lines was significantly broadened. The assays further showed that the two-gene pyramids and the three-gene pyramid exhibited wider resistance spectrum than the monogenic lines. At natural nurseries, the three monogenic lines still showed high ratios of infected panicles, whereas the two-gene pyramids and the three-gene pyramid showed high level of panicle blast resistance. However, the two-gene pyramid R504 reached the similar resistance effect of the three-gene pyramid R507 considering resistance spectrum under artificial conditions and panicle blast resistance under field conditions. Generally, the improved lines showed comparable agronomic traits compared with the recurrent parent (RP), but the three-gene pyramid showed reduced grain yield per plant. Conclusions All the improved lines conferred wider resistance spectrum compared with the RP. Yet, the three monogenic lines did not work under field conditions of the two nurseries. Given the similar performances on the main agronomic traits as the RP, the two-gene pyramids have achieved the breeding goals of broad resistance spectrum and effective panicle blast resistance. Whereas, the three-gene pyramid harboring Pi2, Pi46 and Pita seems superfluous considering its reduced yield, although it also showed displayed high level of blast resistance. Thus, rational use of R genes rather than stacking more R genes is recommended to control the disease.