Maternal genetic effect of resistance to rice yellow mottle virus disease in rice

Reciprocal selection is a breeding procedure for population improvement and hybrid development. Both female and male parents contribute genes to their offspring, but the influence of female parent often extends beyond simple genetic transmission. Nine parents were crossed in a full diallel and evaluated for maternal genetic effects for resistance to rice yellow mottle virus disease. This study was conducted in a green house at National Crops Resources Research Institute, Uganda. In the F2 generation evaluated, eight out of the 14 reciprocal crosses showed significant reciprocal effects. The results revealed that cytoplasmic gene effects played a role in modifying resistance to RYMV with enhanced resistance when the resistant parent was used as female. Parental lines Gigante, Nerica 4 and Nerica 6 as the female produced progenies with better resistance than when they were used as the male parent. Segregation patterns generally suggested the presence of one or two genes with modifications beyond Mendelian ratios. This also revealed that the resistance to RYMV was affected by a very complex interaction of cytoplasm and nuclear genes. In the light of these results, care should be taken in consideration while selecting the female parents in hybridization programs. * Corresponding Author: E. Munganyinka  [email protected] International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 6, No. 4, p. 213-221, 2015 International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 14-22, 2014