GENETIC MAPS AND MARKER ASSISTED SELECTION FOR MAJORGENE TRAITS IN RICE

Abstract

Rice is an important cereal crop of Asian countries. It is a major staple food crop
Southeast and eastern countries of Asian sub-continent. Knowledge on the genetic
constitution of rice plant has immense importance in Plant breeding Programmes. The
use of molecular markers has facilitated the selection process. Markers-assisted selection
has provided a reliable source for identifying and selecting the desirable genotype in
plant breeding programmes. Molecular marker can save time and labour. It is a laborious
job to grow a large number of F2 populations and practice selection for morphological
markers in conventional plant breeding. Molecular markers will be more useful for
selection when (1) the phenotype is difficult or expensive to measure directly, (2) genes
of similar phenotype are being pyramided into a single line, or (3) markers are being used
to select against the donor genome in a backcrossing programme