Genetics of Rice for BPH Resistance: A Critical Analysis

One of the best methods to manage BPH is to utilize resistant varieties. Ever since BPH started appearing in epidemic proportions since early nineteen hundred seventies, International Rice Research Institute based at Los Banās, Philippines (IRRI) and many national programs in Asian countries have started developing BPH resistant varieties suitable for their conditions. To date, 34 loci each probably having many genes have been identified to contribute for resistance reaction in rice against BPH and mapped to seven of the 12 chromosomes (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, and 12) of rice. Apart from few hundred land races of cultivated rice  O .  sativa , several wild rices like  Oryza rufipogon  (AA genome),  O .  officinalis  (CC genome),  Oryza eichingeri  (CC genome),  O .  minuta  (BBCC genome),  O. latifolia  (CCDD genome),  O .  australiensis  (EE genome),  O .  punctata  (BB and BBCC genome)  and O. granulate  (GG genome) served as sources of resistance. Some of the latest genes like Bph31, Bph32 and Bph34 can hopefully serve as excellent sources of resistance in containing devastating BPH populations in several rice growing countries in Asia. However, there is lot of confusion in naming different biotypes of BPH. There is equally confusion in naming rice genes that confer resistance to different BPH biotypes. An International Committee preferably under the auspices of IRRI can be constituted to sort out the differences and stream line the whole information.