Identification of novel QTLs conferring field resistance for rice leaf and neck blast from an unique landrace of India

In the changing climatic scenario, in addition to leaf blast, neck blast caused by Magnaporthae oryzae has become more prominent in all rice growing ecosystems. Cultivars having field resistance often shows durable resistance to two phases of the blast. In this work, we found that Akhanaphou, an unique rice landrace of North-East India, having a high level of field resistance to both leaf and neck blast. We identified two novel QTLs (Quantitative trait loci) i.e. qLNBL-5 and qLNBL-7 using two consecutive years phenotypic data generated from two different environments. Both of these QTLs confer resistance toward leaf as well as neck blast by contributing 26% and 25% phenotypic variance toward the resistance. We also identified stable recombinant inbred lines (RILs) having these two QTLs. The identified unique landrace and its derived RILs can be served as valuable genetic resources; these can be readily used in rice resistance breeding programs.