ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack
PI: Dr K. Chattopadhyay
Co-PIs: Drs S. Samantaray, A. Kumar, M. Chakraborty, N. Basak, LK Bose and APoonam
Evaluation and identification of donors for breeding nutrient rich rice: Brown rice samples of 25 varieties were screened for phytic acid (PA), Zn and Fe contents and the highest PA content was found in PB267 (2.6%) and lowest (0.8%) in Bindli. Highest Fe was found in PB 177 (24.4 ppm) and lowest (10.5 ppm) in Pooja, while for Zn, highest was observed in Bindli (59.3 ppm) and lowest (48.5 ppm) in PB 267 in brown rice. Genotypes were identified with 10% or more protein in milled rice, viz., ARC10075, ARC10063, Bindli, Mami hungar, PB-140 and PB 312.
Nutrient rich rice varieties
CR Dhan 310 (IET24780: CR2829-PLN-37): It has been released in national level as first high protein rice variety for the states of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It has medium duration (120-125 days), semi-dwarf plant type (110 cm) with medium slender and good grain quality. It is suitable for irrigated and favorable shallow rainfed areas. National average of grain yield is 4483 kg/ha and it contains average 10.2% protein in polished rice.
Mukul (CR Dhan 311, IET 24772: CR2829-PLN-100): It has been released by SVRC for Odisha as nutrient rich rice. It has high protein content (10.1%) and moderately high level of Zn content (20 ppm) in 10% polished rice. It has medium duration (120-125 days), semi-dwarf plant type (110 cm) with long bold grain and good cooking and eating quality. It is suitable for irrigated and favorable shallow rainfed areas. National average of grain yield is 4331 kg/ha and in Odisha it is 5542 kg/ha.
High protein line in ‘Swarna’ background: Three high protein lines in Swarna background were developed and tested. One of them CR 2830-PLS-17 with high protein content (9.5-10%) is found promising under multi-locational testing in Odisha.
Rice Breeding for combining high protein and Zn: To combine various grain nutritional and quality traits in high yielding lines, F2 seeds from three way and double crosses have been harvested in kharif 2017 viz., CR 4105 (BPT 5204 Sub1/CR Dhan 310//Bindli); CR 4104 (CR 2829-PLN-32/Sneha//CR 2829-PLN-116/ Kalinga III) and CR 4103 (CR Dhan 311/Kalinga III//Satabdi)
Doubled Haploid approach for fixing Zn and protein in popular rice varieties: To fix high zinc (25ppm) and protein (12%) as well as low phytic acid of Bindli in a popular upland rice variety, Sahahbhagidhan and another short grain aromatic variety, Geetanjali, doubled haploid approach was adopted. Anther culture of F1s showed callus response of 15% in Bindli /Sahabhagidhan and 21% in Bindli/Geetanjali. Green shoot regeneration of 75% in Bindli /Sahabhagidhan and 57% was found in Bindli/Geetanjali.
QTL for grain protein content: Using stable grain protein donor, ARC10075 and high-yielding cultivar ‘Naveen’ a backcross derived population was developed and was genotyped using 40K Affimetrix custom SNP array. We identified QTL, which were stable over the environments. One of them (qGPC1.1) was validated by NIR Spectroscopy-based high throughput phenotyping in NIL (BC3F5) population. Functional gene Os01g0111900 inside this QTL region encoding glutelin family protein was postulated. This was substantially supported by higher glutelin content in high-protein NILs with the introgression of qGPC1.1 in telomeric region of short arm of chromosome 1. In addition, a few other genes governing seed storage protein synthesis were found in association with the putative and multi-environment QTL.
Advancement of Mapping Population derived from cross CR Dhan 310/ Naveen and marker development for fine mapping of qGPC1.1: To fine map the consistent QTL on chromosome 1 (qGPC1.1), 51 F1s were raised from the cross between high protein rice CR Dhan 310 and its recurrent parent, Naveen. Two STMS markers (RM11157 and AUT 10295) and 182 SNP positions selected from the three genomic blocks differentiating Naveen and CR Dhan 310. Total 171 SNP markers accommodated in 06 Assay of SequenomMassARRAY will be used for high throughput genotyping of NIL-F2 population for fine mapping of qGPC1.1.
Evaluation, demonstration and popularization of high nutrient rice: A field experiment was carried out at research farm of ICAR-NRRI, during dry season to evaluate the performance of high protein rice under different crop establishment method and nutrient management practices. The treatments were comprised of three method of crop establishment i.e., SRI Method, dibbling of sprout seeds at 25×25 cm, normal transplanting at 20 × 15 cm and six nutrient management practices i.e., 100% of recommended inorganic fertilizer (120:60:40 kg NPK/ha), 50 % of inorganic and 50 % of organic, 100 % of recommended dose through organic source (equivalent to N dose), 150 % of RFD, LCC based nitrogen management and no fertilizer (Control). The experiment was arranged in split plot design with three replications. The test variety CR Dhan 310 was taken as the test crop of 120 days duration. Results revealed that yield attributes i.e., effective panicles per plant, plant height, grains per panicle and 1000 grain weight were found to be significantly superior with SRI method as compared to other methods of crop establishment. Further it was also found that rice grown with SRI method produced 16.3 % and 28.6 % higher grain yield over dibble sowing and normal transplanted rice. Similarly higher grain protein was recorded with the SRI method (10.84 %) over other method of establishment. Among the nutrient management options significantly higher grain yield of rice (5.28 t/ha) was observed with the treatment receiving 150% higher recommended dose of fertilizer over control but the protein content (11.97 %) was found significantly superior with the treatment with 100% of recommended inorganic fertilizer dose (120:60:40 kg NPK/ha).