Rice Genetics IV - IRRI books - International Rice Research Institute

Rice molecular breeding workshopThis workshop was held on the International Rice Molecular Breeding Program(IRMBP), which is a comprehensive breeding strategy to enhance rice yield and stabilityby integrating DNA marker technology with large-scale backcross breedingactivities through highly organized international collaboration. Zhikang Li highlightedthe project objectives and activities. The project involves rice breeding institutionsfrom 14 Asian countries (10 from China, 6 from India, 3 from Korea, 2 from Vietnam,2 from Pakistan, and 1 each from Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran,Indonesia, Egypt, Nepal, and the Philippines). This project uses 63 elite commercialcultivars and 140 unique landraces and breeding lines as parental lines to achievethree main objectives: (1) to develop many introgression line sets in elite geneticbackgrounds through large-scale backcross breeding, (2) to identify valuable genes/QTLs for important traits using introgression lines and DNA markers, and (3) to developnew cultivars with enhanced yield potential and stability by marker-aidedpyramiding of desirable QTLs. The workshop was organized to discuss the currentstatus of the IRMBP, to report on the activities and progress of the project, to reportthe results of molecular characterization of parental gene pools, and to discuss technicalissues related to the project.The workshop was chaired by Qifa Zhang. Gurdev Khush stressed the need tointegrate DNA marker technology with conventional breeding. Workshop participantsdiscussed backcross and phenotyping strategy, information and database establishment,and sources of funding and human resource development. A general consensuswas reached for achieving the following objectives and goals of the IRMBP:● Formulating a strategy for developing standard uniform phenotyping procedures,especially in relation to selection criteria for target traits in backcrossprogenies, such as using the Standard Evaluation System developed by IRRI.● Establishing standard and common databases for parental lines and introgressionlines by collecting data generated from participating institutions.● Generating funds from local governments by submitting proposals from participatinginstitutions with technical help from the central program at IRRI.● Coordinating training workshops by IRRI on gene/QTL discovery and cultivardevelopment using DNA markers and introgression lines for the participatinginstitutions in national agricultural research and extension systems.484