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Highlights • Genetic gain for rice grain yield for International Rice Research Institute drought breeding program was estimated. • Positive trend of 0.68 %, 0.87 %, 1.9 % under irrigated control, moderate and severe drought achieved. • Superiority of new rice varieties over currently grown demonstrated on farmers’ fields. • International Rice Research Institute developed rice varieties can protect farmers from crop losses under drought conditions., The complexity of genotype × environment interactions under drought reduces heritability, which determines the effectiveness of selection for drought tolerance and development of drought tolerant varieties. Genetic progress measured through changes in yield performance over time is important in determining the efficiency of breeding programmes in which test cultivars are replaced each year on the assumption that the new cultivars will surpass the older cultivars. The goal of our study was to determine the annual rate of genetic gain for rice grain yield in a drought-prone rainfed system in a series of multi-environment trials conducted from 2005 to 2014 under the Drought Breeding Network of Indian sites in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Our results show a positive trend in grain yield with an annual genetic yield increase of about 0.68 % under irrigated control, 0.87 % under moderate reproductive stage drought stress and 1.9 % under severe reproductive stage drought stress due to breeding efforts. The study also demonstrates the effectiveness of direct selection for grain yield under both irrigated control as well as managed drought stress screening to improve yield in typical rainfed systems. IRRI's drought breeding programme has exhibited a significant positive trend in genetic gain for grain yield over the years under both drought stress as well as favorable irrigated control conditions. Several drought tolerant varieties released from the programme have outperformed the currently grown varieties under varied conditions in the rainfed environments on farmers’ fields.

Background Nutrient deficiency in humans, especially in children and lactating women, is a major concern. Increasing the micronutrient concentration in staple crops like rice is one way to overcome this. The micronutrient content in rice, especially the iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content, is highly variable. The identification of rice genotypes in which there are naturally high Fe and Zn concentrations across environments is an important target towards the production of biofortified rice. Results Phenotypic correlations between grain Fe and Zn content were positive and significant in all environments but a significant negative association was observed between grain yield and grain Fe and Zn. Promising breeding lines with higher Zn or Fe content, or both, were: IR 82475-110-2-2-1-2 (Zn: 20.24-37.33 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.47-14.65 mg kg-1 ); IR 83294-66-2-2-3-2 (Zn: 22-37-41.97 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 9.43-17.16); IR 83668-35-2-2-2 (Zn: 27.15-42.73 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 6.01-14.71); IR 68144-2B-2-2-3-1-166 (Zn: 23.53-40.30 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 10.53-17.80 mg kg-1 ) and RP Bio 5478-185M7 (Zn: 22.60-40.07 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.64-14.73 mg kg-1 ). Among these, IR82475-110-2-2-1-2 (Zn: 20.24-37.33 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.47-14.65 mg kg-1 ) is also high yielding with 3.75 t ha-1 . Kelhrie Cha (Zn: 17.76-36.45 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.17-14.77 mg kg-1 ), Dzuluorhe (Zn: 17.48-39.68 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.89-19.90 mg kg-1 ), Nedu (Zn: 18.97-43.55 mg kg-1 Fe: 8.01-19.51 mg kg-1 ), Kuhusoi-Ri-Sareku (Zn: 17.37-44.14 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 8.99-14.30 mg kg-1 ) and Mima (Zn: 17.10-45.64 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 9.97-17.40 mg kg-1 ) were traditional donor genotypes that possessed both high grain Fe and high Zn content. Conclusion Significant genotype × location (G × L) effects were observed in all traits except Fe. Genetic variance was significant and was considerably larger than the variance of G × L for grain Zn and Fe content traits, except grain yield. The G × L × year variance component was significant in all cases. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dry direct-seeded rice (DSR) is an alternative crop establishment method with less water and labor requirement through mechanization. It provides better opportunities for a second crop during the cropping season and therefore, a feasible alternative system to transplanted lowland rice. However, lodging is one of the major constraints in attaining high yield in DSR. Identification of QTLs for lodging resistance and their subsequent use in improving varieties under DSR will be an efficient breeding strategy to address the problem. In order to map the QTLs associated with lodging resistance, a set of 253 BC3F4 lines derived from a backcross between Swarna and Moroberekan were evaluated in two consecutive years. A total of 12 QTLs associated with lodging resistance traits [culm length (qCL), culm diameter (qCD), and culm strength (qCS)] were mapped on chromosomes 1, 2, 6, and 7 using 193 polymorphic SNP markers. Two major and consistent effect QTLs, namely qCD1.1 (with R2 of 10%) and qCS1.1 (with R2 of 14%) on chromosome 1 with id1003559 being the peak SNP marker (flanking markers; id1001973-id1006772) were identified as a common genomic region associated with important lodging resistance traits. In silico analysis revealed the presence of Gibberellic Acid 3 beta-hydroxylase along with 34 other putative candidate genes in the marker interval region of id1001973-id1006772. The positive alleles for culm length, culm diameter, and culm strength were contributed by the upland adaptive parent Moroberekan. Our results identified significant positive correlation between lodging related traits (culm length diameter and strength) and grain yield under DSR, indicating the role of lodging resistant traits in grain yield improvement under DSR. Deployment of the identified alleles influencing the culm strength and culm diameter in marker assisted introgression program may facilitate the lodging resistance under DSR.