Rice blast is one of the yield limiting factors of the rice cultivar Metica-1, in the State of Tocantins, Brazil. Plants of this cultivar were regenerated from the callus cultures derived from immature panicles with the objective of obtaining blast resistant somaclones. Two hundred eighty R2 plants were assessed utilizing pathotypes ID-14 and II-1 of Pyricularia grisea, retrieved from the cultivars Metica-1 and Cica-8, respectively. While all R2 plants of the cultivar Metica1 were resistant to the pathotype II-1, the progenies of two R1 plants showed resistance to pathotype ID-14, indicating thereby the induction of genetic variation for blast resistance in the susceptible rice cultivar, in early generations. The R3 generation was advanced, and of 280 somaclones in R4 generation, 51 were selected including two somaclones CNAI10390 and CNAI10393, which exhibited vertical resistance, in blast nursery. In the advanced R5 and R6 generations, these two somaclones showed resistant reaction in blast nursery test, as well as in inoculation tests with the isolates from the cultivars Metica-1, Cica-8 and Epagri 108, and can be used as new blast resistant sources in rice breeding programs.
Oryza sativa; rice blast; somaclonal variation; genetic variation; plant breeding
