Field Performance and SSR Analysis of Drought QTL Introgression Lines of Rice

A set of five Korean rice cultivars and seven drought-tolerant indica lines were screened under irrigated non-stress and drought-stressed conditions in the 2011 and 2012 dry seasons at IRRI, Philippines. The drought-stressed experiment received mild to moderate stress. Under drought stress, ‘IR86918-B-439-B’ had the highest grain yield among all tested lines and ‘Hanarembyeo’ had the highest grain yield among the five Korean rice cultivars. ‘IR86918-B-439-B’ also had the highest yield under irrigated non-stress conditions. The grain yield of ‘Hanareumbyeo’ was similar to ‘IR86918-B-439-B’ under non-stress conditions. SSR marker analysis was performed using 125 SSR markers for detection of polymorphic markers between the Korean rice cultivars and the drought-tolerant indica lines, and for genetic diversity analysis. Twelve polymorphic markers were identified in the region of three major drought QTLs (DTY1.1, DTY2.2, DTY3.1) in two of the Korean rice cultivars and three of the drought-tolerant lines. These polymorphic markers will be useful as foreground genotyping markers for drought-QTL introgression in Korean rice genetic backgrounds.