In the current study, the cultivar ‘Tetep’ was used as
donor mainly for the transfer of the blast resistance
gene, Pi54, through marker-assisted foreground selection
in combination with stringent phenotypic selection for recovery
of agro-morphological, grain and cooking quality
traits of the recurrent parent ‘Improved Pusa Basmati 1’.
However, ‘Tetep’, the donor for the blast resistance
gene, Pi54, also possesses a major QTL for ShB resistance,
qSBR11-1, on the arm of chromosome 11, in which Pi54
is located. Therefore, the superior advanced lines
possessing both BB- and blast-resistant genes were also
analysed for the possible introgression of this major QTL
for ShB resistance through MAS. Here we report the use
of MAS for combining resistance to three diseases,
namely BB, blast and ShB, in Basmati rice.