JHARKHAND FARMERS RECOGNISED AS GENE SAVIORS

Two New Genes found for disease resistance against the dreaded rice disease, Bacterial Leaf Blight.

Two new genes that confer resistance against the rice disease called Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB)  have been found in the collection of traditional rice varieties in Gene Campaign’s Gene-Seed Banks in Jharkhand. This underscores the crucial importance of conserving traditional crop variteies and the valuable genes that they contain, showing the relevance of such genetic resources to future food security.

325 traditional rice varieties from the Gene-Seed Bank collections of Gene Campaign were shared with the Genetics Division/ IARI, New Delhi. The varieties were screened and field tested for disease resistance  to the Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB) disease over a period of five years.  

The current data shows that eight traditional varieties Hardimuri, Kala Jeera, Bhatind, Sitwa Dhan, Sarna Gora, Chaina Gora, Lamba Asari and Jhulur are resistant to BLB.

The exciting discovery is that neither of these varieties carries the genes XA 13 and XA 21 which are known to confer resistance to BLB. It is obvious that the farming communities have conserved new genes, so far unknown, that confer BLB resistance in rice. The varieties are being further tested in IARI and Directorate of Rice Research in Cuttack to characterize the new genes.

This discovery has very great significance for the future of rice breeding and shows that traditional crop germplasm is a valuable repository of genes to which the official research system should pay greater attention than it is doing.

Climate change and accompanying global warming are expected to increase the incidence of crop diseases. Finding genes conferring disease resistance is a sought after research goal in national and international laboratories. The farming community in developing countries have selected and conserved a range of genetic diversity containing many valuable genes, in traditional crop varieties. Conserving this traditional gene pool is the most efficient and certain means of finding genes to breed new varieties to combat the impact of global warming and climate change on agriculture and food security.

The Genome Saviour Award to the farming communities of Jharkhand finally brings national recognition to the importance of traditional crop genetic diversity and the urgent need for its conservation.