ARS | Publication request: MARKER ASSISTED SELECTION FOR THE CONTROL OF RICE BLAST DISEASE

Submitted to: Pesticide Outlook
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: July 15, 2003
Publication Date: August 1, 2003
Citation: Jia, Y. 2003. Marker assisted selection for the control of rice blast disease. Pesticide Outlook. 14:150-152.

Technical Abstract: Rice blast disease is the most serious plant disease that threatens rice industry worldwide. Control of blast disease has been commonly achieved by the use of fungicide and integrated cultural practices. The use of resistant cultivars reduces the use of environmentally destructive fungicides and is a powerful method for crop protection. Classical plant breeding technology has achieved significant progresses toward developing blast resistant cultivars. Complete resistance genes to blast have been identified and tagged for improvement of rice blast resistance worldwide. Marker assisted selection (MAS), a selection method based on DNA markers which are physically liked to blast resistance, can be used to increase the precision of introducing resistant resources into local elite rice breeding lines by classical plant breeding. MAS is providing solutions to resolve the problems that classical plant breeding can not resolve. MAS provides unique advantages for the control of rice blast disease. The principal application of MAS and potential benefits of the use of MAS to facilitate the development of improved resistant rice cultivars were described in this article.