Development of High-Yielding Rice Varieties Suitable for Swampy Lands in Indonesia

Abstract

Productivity of swampy land rice varieties in Indonesia remains low due to abiotic and biotic stresses. Iron toxicity, submergence and long-term flooding are common problems that affect plant growth, sometimes leading to total crop loss. Meanwhile, rice blast, rice tungro virus (RTV), and bacterial leaf blight (BLB) can also lead to severe yield loss. These stresses could be overcome by an integrative approach of cultural practices and planting multi-stress tolerant rice. Here we describe the development of new high-yielding varieties that are adapted to the swampy land environments in Indonesia with multi-stress tolerance to diverse abiotic and biotic stresses. Multi-environmental trials were performed in nine locations to screen for several abiotic and biotic stresses in the field and greenhouse in 2012 and 2013. This study identified promising rice lines that had high grain yield as well as tolerance to iron toxicity and submergence, resistance to BLB and RTV, and good grain quality. The best line was B11377F-MR-34-2, derived from a double cross among Cinglonik, IRBB7, Mamberamo and IR64. It was confirmed that this advanced breeding line carries the submergence tolerance gene, SUB1, through expression analysis of the SUB1A gene. Another promising line was B11586F-MR-11-2-2, having iron toxicity tolerance, resistance to RTV, and high milling recovery. Moreover, these lines have passed the Indonesian national variety release committee and have been named as Inpara8 and Inpara9, and are targeted for dissemination and adoption in the swampy areas.