Research Projects

Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) has been the emerging pest as reported in different years in many rice-growing countries, including tropical and temperate Asia (Dyck and Thomas, 1979; Jena and Kim, 2010). It is estimated that the economic loss due to BPH infestation is more than 300 million dollars annually (Min et al., 2014). In Arunachal Pradesh, India, as well BPH problems have been the noticeable biotic stress in rice growing area (Siang belt of Arunachal Pradesh) for the past years bringing the state’s rice production down. The resistant and High yielding varieties (HYV) introduced are not preferred by the locals of Arunachal Pradesh as people have developed preference towards taste and texture of local cultivars (Singh et al., 2022). But unfortunately, none of the popular rice cultivars of Arunachal Pradesh are resistant to BPH or even so nil attempts have been made to improve these lines. Another problem specific to one of the most preferred cultivar Shillong is lodging. Geographical location of the paddy fields in the riverbank exposes the mature rice plants to windy situation during maturity in the month of October/November/December. Therefore, in this project, attempts will be made to successfully pyramid BPH resistance genes (Bph3, Bph17 and Bph32) conferring resistance against all the 4 biotypes of BPH (Muduli et al., 2021) into cultivar Itanagar and another attempt to pyramid BPH resistance genes (Bph3 and Bph17) and semi-dwarfing gene (sd1) into cultivar Shillong. Itanagar and Shillong are two popular rice cultivars of Arunachal Pradesh. The research project will also identify the prevalent BPH biotypes. For phenotyping of BPH resistance/susceptibility modified box method, antixenosis and antibiosis method will be used. Marker assisted selection (MAS) is the method to be employed for pyramiding of the BPH and lodging resistance genes. Functional markers for respective gene of interest will be used. Background selection will be done using polymorphic markers spread evenly over all the 12 chromosomes of rice. All the information and resources generated can contribute to the fast genetic improvement of biotic stress resistance in rice for stable high-yield rice production in Arunachal Pradesh.