Introgression of qDTY1.1 Governing Reproductive Stage Drought Tolerance into an Elite Basmati Rice Variety “Pusa Basmati 1” through Marker Assisted Backcross Breeding

Drought stress at the reproductive stage in rice is one of most important cause for yield reduction, affecting both productivity and quality. All Basmati varieties, including popular cultivar “Pusa 1 (PB1)” highly sensitive to drought (RSDS). We report first time, improvement a RSDS tolerance, with introgression major quantitative trait locus (QTL), “qDTY1.1” into PB1. The QTL was sourced from an aus variety, Nagina 22 (N22). A microsatellite (simple sequence repeat (SSR)) marker “RM 431” located telomeric end (38.89 mb) chromosome 1, within 1.04 mb region employed foreground selection qDTY1.1 assisted backcross breeding process. set 113 SSR markers polymorphic between N22 PB1 were utilized background ensure higher recurrent parent genome recovery. After three backcrosses followed by five generations selfing, eighteen near isogenic lines (NILs) developed, through combinatory agro-morphological, grain cooking quality traits. NILs evaluated consecutive Kharif seasons, 2017, 2018 2019 under well-watered conditions. tolerance stability indicated that P1882-12-111-3, P1882-12-111-5, P1882-12-111-6, P1882-12-111-7, P1882-12-111-12, P1882-12-111-15 P1882-12-111-17 best terms overall agronomic RSDS. Additionally, exhibited high potential normal condition as well. tolerant resilience water stress, valuable resource sustaining production limiting environments.