New Rice Varieties Resist Bacterial Blight in East Africa
Bacterial blight, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, has been causing significant yield losses in Asia and Africa. In East Africa, the disease was introduced by Asian strains around 2019 and spread to neighboring countries.
Researchers from the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and the Institute for Molecular Physiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf used marker-assisted breeding to develop new rice lines resistant to the disease. They added several resistance genes to three African elite rice varieties, KombokaP, FARO-44, and NERICA-4.
The new rice lines resisted not only the Xoo strains from Tanzania and Madagascar but also selected Asian and West African strains. This makes them suitable for field trials and further breeding.
The researchers used the marker-assisted breeding technique, which is a quick and precise method that retains the general properties of the original varieties. This approach is especially useful in countries where genome editing is not approved.
The new rice lines can help protect East African rice harvests from bacterial blight. They are also suitable for crossing with other local varieties, which can lead to the registration of the lines as new varieties and their widespread use by farmers.
The researchers hope that the African Union will agree on common standards for genome editing in the future, allowing for faster development of new crop varieties.
