Exploring Genetic Resistance for Sustainable Management of Blast Disease in Rice

The rice blast disease, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae or Pyricularia oryzae, poses a serious threat to rice production, affecting both yield and food security globally, highlights the devastating ability of the pathogen’s to cause a reduction in yield that may go up as high as 70-80%. The host plant’s genetic resistance is conferred mainly through two broad mechanisms. Resistant (R) gene in host plant conferring race specific, complete resistance in a ‘gene-for-gene’ relationship with avirulent (AVR) gene present in the pathogen and Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) in the host plant conferring partial, race non specific, durable resistance against the pathogen. The integration of resistant genes into elite rice cultivars remains a primary goal in breeding programs, with advancements in molecular breeding offering new avenues for durable and broad-spectrum resistance. Dissecting the underlying genetic mechanism through novel molecular techniques helps better understanding the resistance for sustainable management of the disease. Various breeding approaches, right from conventional methods to genome editing were being increasingly employed for harnessing the potential genetic resistance in a concerted effort to breed for resistant cultivars.