S. Gopala Krishnan

• Ph. D. (Genetics)
• Principal Investigator at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute

In the changing climatic scenario, the application of proteomics for accelerated identification of elite genes is an important way to speed up the development of elite lines. Seeds, the reservoir of protein expression in most aspects of plant development, are an attractive platform for identifying unique/novel proteins. There has been no report on...

Rice is a popular staple food in the world. Rice production is generally affected by many biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses affecting rice, bakanae has emerged as a serious challenge to Indian rice growers. Plant resistance gene analogues (RGAs) are genes with conserved domains and motifs that contribute to host resistance to d...

High temperature stress adversely impact rice production, posing a serious threat to global food security in the global climate change scenario. HT stress impairs growth and photosynthesis by causing damage to the Photosystem II (PSII) complex. Additionally, HT stress affects spikelet fertility, grain filling and grains per panicle during reproduct...

Direct-seeded rice (DSR) is gaining popularity among farmers due to its environmentally safe and resource-efficient production system. However, managing the rice root-knot nematode (RRKN), Meloidogyne graminicola, remains a major challenge in DSR cultivation. Developing genetic resistance is a pragmatic and effective approach compared to using haza...

Rice sheath blight is one of the most important fungal disease‐causing yield losses up to 50%. An Oryza rufipogon ‐derived introgression line (Pusa 1908‐13‐12‐5) identified to be highly resistant to sheath blight was used for developing a RIL population by crossing with a highly susceptible rice cultivar, Pusa Basmati 1 (PB 1). The RIL population w...

Rice landraces from the fragile riverine ecosystems surrounding Majuli islands in Assam are pivotal for local livelihoods, as well as for their potential in developing flood tolerant varieties. We characterized 87 landraces from Majuli, Dhemaji, and North Lakhimpur districts in Assam by assessing 36 agro‐morphological traits, submergence tolerance,...

Introduction Toxicity due to excess soil iron (Fe) is a significant concern for rice cultivation in lowland areas with acidic soils. Toxic levels of Fe adversely affect plant growth by disrupting the absorption of essential macronutrients, and by causing cellular damage. To understand the responses to excess Fe, particularly on seedling root system...

The current research investigated sequence polymorphism and allelic variation in the GBSS1 gene responsible for determining the apparent amylose content (AAC) in an aromatic rice germplasm panel. Analysis of 271 germplasm accessions from India revealed a wide range of variation in AAC, from 4.81% (Manipur Black Rice) to 35.88% (IGSR -3-1-5). Re-seq...

A novel zebra leaf mutant, Pusa Zebra 18 derived spontaneously from F2 intercross population of Pusa 44 near-isogenic lines (NILs) exhibits distinguishable yellowish cross bands across the green leaf blade, specifically expressed in the seedling stage from 6 DAT, which diffuses progressively, leading to the recovery of the normal green leaf by 30 D...

Abstract Starch is the major component in rice grain that determines not just the cooking and eating quality of rice but also the nutritive value of a particular rice variety. It also plays a key role in determining the consumer acceptance of a variety, its trade and market value. Thus, it is essential to assess the available genetic variation for...

Aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm conserved in global genebanks needs intensive characterization to assess genetic diversity and population structure for crop improvement. We analyzed a panel of 92 accessions of non‐Basmati aromatic rice landrace germplasm with 23 phenotypic traits and 48 microsatellite markers. The landrace accessions disp...

The vigour, blooming, yield, and biochemical features of seventy mango hybrids, including their parents,‘Amrapali’ and ‘Sensation’, were evaluated. The hybrid ‘H-13-5’ had the greatest plant height (10.11m), wherestem girth was maximum in ‘H-1-6’ (132.21cm), and ‘H-13-1’ had the largest canopy spread (9.77 m). The hybrid‘H-13-4’ exhibited the highe...

Identification of significant Marker-Trait Associations (MTAs) for starch compositional traits and viscosity parameters in Rice by Genome-wide association mapping Starch is the most crucial source of carbohydrates for human nutrition and is a major component of the diet in many parts of the world. Rice is one of the most significant crops for huma...

Main conclusion Roots play an important role in adaptive plasticity of rice under dry/direct-sown conditions. However, hypomethylation of genes in leaves (resulting in up-regulated expression) complements the adaptive plasticity of Nagina-22 under DSR conditions. Abstract Rice is generally cultivated by transplanting which requires plenty of water...

Bakanae disease caused by Fusarium fujikuroi is an emerging disease of rice causing losses in all rice-growing regions around the world. A BC2F2 population was developed by backcrossing the recurrent parent Pusa Basmati 1121 (PB1121) with the recombinant inbred line RIL28, which harbors a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) governing resistance to...

Citation: Singh, G.; Singh, N.; Ellur, R.K.; Balamurugan, A.; Prakash, G.; Rathour, R.; Mondal, K.K.; Bhowmick, P.K.; Gopala Krishnan, S.; Nagarajan, M.; et al. Genetic Enhancement for Biotic Stress Resistance in Basmati Rice through Marker-Assisted Backcross Breeding. Abstract: Pusa Basmati 1509 (PB1509) is one of the major foreign-exchange-earnin...

The Vietnamese indica landrace ‘Tetep’ is known worldwide for its durable and broad spectrum-resistance to blast. We performed genetic and molecular analyses of leaf blast resistance in a Tetep derived recombinant inbred line ‘RIL4’ which is resistant to both leaf and neck blast. Phenotypic analysis of segregating F2 progenies suggested that leaf b...

Rhizoctonia solani is a destructive soil borne plant pathogen that infects various crops including rice. A total of 35 isolates of R. solani from rice and other different hosts were collected and established. Morphological characterization was done on PDA media by analyzing radial growth, sclerotial pattern and colony colour. Pathogenicity test was...

Phosphorous is a crucial element for rice growth, impacting its vegetative and reproductive stages. P deficiency leads to stunted growth, reduced photosynthesis and poor seed production. To address this issue, researchers utilized a low P tolerant genotype called Kasalath, which carries the Pup1 QTL. Our study aimed to evaluate 22 Pup1 introgressed...

Nitrogen (N) deficiency alters grain morphology and reduces yield and quality rice (Oryza sativa L.). This study investigates the impact of nitrogen (N) deficiency on grain morphology, yield, and quality in 30 diverse rice genotypes. The genotypes were grown under field conditions during the 2019 and 2020-kharif seasons, subjected to two N regimes:...

A novel zebra mutant, “Pusa Zebra 18” derived spontaneously from the breeding population exhibited distinguishable yellowish cross bands across the green leaf blade, specifically expressing in the seedling stage from 6 DAT, which recovers progressively leading to complete recovery of normal green leaf by 30 DAT. The mutant PZ 18, showed a significa...

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are vital sources of variation for genetic improvement, but their populations are few in genebanks, eroded in natural habitats and inadequately characterized. With a view to explore genetic diversity in CWRs of AA genome rice (Oryza sativa L.) species in India, we analyzed 96 accessions of 10 Oryza species by using 17 qua...

Carrot is an important vegetable crop worldwide valued for its fleshy edible roots of varied colours. Owing to its highly cross-pollinated nature and small flower size, cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is being utilized for hybrid development. Among different types of male sterility, petaloid CMS is widely used for hybrid carrot breeding globally....

With a view to explore genetic diversity in crop wild relatives of AA-genome species of rice ( Oryza sativa L.) in India, we analyzed 96 accessions of 10 Oryza species for 17 quantitative traits with 45 microsatellite markers. The morpho-quantitative traits revealed high extent of phenotypic variation within and between species. Shannon-Weiner's di...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) grains are vital for food security of half of the global population. India has rich diversity for aromatic rice landraces. In order to assess the genetic diversity and population structure in these specialty rices, we characterized 92 germplasm accessions of aromatic rice landraces of Indo-Gangetic Plain region including 10 p...

Fruiting behaviour and sex form are important goals for Luffa breeders and this study aimed to shed light upon inheritance patterns for both these traits. The hermaphrodite form of Luffa acutangula (known as Satputia) is an underutilized vegetable with a unique clustered fruiting habit. Its desirable traits, such as plant architecture, earliness, a...

Phenomics technologies have advanced rapidly in the recent past for precision phenotyping of diverse crop plants. High-throughput phenotyping using imaging sensors has been proven to fetch more informative data from a large population of genotypes than the traditional destructive phenotyping methodologies. It provides accurate, high-dimensional phe...

Increasing crop productivity is one of the prime goals of crop breeding research. Rice grain yield is a complex quantitative trait governed by polygenes. Although several QTLs governing grain yield traits have been reported and limited attempts have been made to map QTLs for grain yield parameters in Basmati rice. A population from the cross Sonasa...

Among the dietary antioxidants that counteract oxidative stress to avert the incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), g-oryzanol, a unique antioxidant in rice shows potential health benefits. Although rice germplasm exhibits significant variation for g-oryzanol content, much less is studied on the influence of environment (E) and genotype-env...

Functional stay-green (FSG) is characterized by delayed senescence during the reproductive stage in rice. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from 'Pusa 677'/'PSG16' was used to study the genetics of FSG in a rice mutant, 'PSG16'. The RILs exhibited significant variation under two N regimes for agro-morphological traits, leaf chlorop...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a nutritionally rich fruit exhibiting white, yellow, pink, and purple variants for pulp color. To understand the genetic and molecular basis of pulp color, 35 F1s obtained from colored/white crosses and their parents were characterized for pulp color. Black guava (BG) had a rare peel and pulp color with the least amoun...

The bakanae disease of rice, or foolish seedling disease, is a well-known pathogen infecting rice hosts. Several studies have characterized Fusarium fujikuroi isolates collected from distant geographical regions and within similar geographical areas for secondary metabolite production, population structure, and diversity analysis, but none have att...

Manipur black rice is a speciality rice characterised by black pigmented pericarp due to anthocyanin accumulation. We have investigated the inheritance of black pericarp pigmentation through classical genetic analysis in a Manipur black rice cultivar, Chakhao Poireiton. Total anthocyanin content was quantified using cyanidin-3-glucoside and peonidi...

Physiological races of 14 strains of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici were established by PCR profiling SIX gene expressions. No amplification of the SIX4 (Avr1) gene was observed in any of the 14 strains. Based on amplification of the SIX3 (Avr2) gene, 6 strains were distinguished as race 2. Race 2 strains are known to contain identical SIX3 s...

Parthenocarpy is an extremely important trait that revolutionized the worldwide cultivation of cucumber under protected conditions. Pusa Parthenocarpic Cucumber-6 (PPC-6) is one of the important commercially cultivated varieties under protected conditions in India. Understanding the genetics of parthenocarpy, molecular mapping and the development o...

Background Basmati is a speciality segment in the rice genepool characterised by explicit grain quality. For the want of suitable populations, genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Basmati rice has not been attempted. Materials To address this gap, we have performed a GWAS on a panel of 172 elite Basmati multiparent population comprising of pote...

Background Antioxidants detain the development and proliferation of various non-communicable diseases (NCDs). γ-oryzanol, a group of steryl ferulates and caffeates, is a major antioxidant present in rice grain with proven health benefits. The present study evaluated the distribution and dynamics of γ-oryzanol and its components in spatial and tempo...

Rice productivity has reached a plateau, and further yield improvement can be possible by exploiting the physiological traits. Higher grain yield and biomass production are important agronomically desired targets for a successful breeding program. A field study was conducted using mini core collection of 135 basmati rice germplasm to analyze variab...

Rice requires plenty of water for its cultivation by transplanting. This poses several challenges to its cultivation due to erratic rainfall resulting in drought, flood, and other abiotic stresses of varying intensity. Dry/direct-sown rice (DSR) has emerged as a water-saving/climate-smart alternative to transplanted rice (TPR). The performance of a...

Background Fusarium fujikuroi causing bakanae is one of the most significant pathogens of rice and much responsible for yield losses thereby emerging as a major risk to food security. Methods In the present study transcriptomic analysis was conducted between two contrasting resistant (C101A51) and susceptible (Rasi) genotypes of rice with the comb...

PCR amplification and detection of GC rich sequences in DNA is a challenge due to formation of secondary structures which resist denaturation, thereby stalling Taq DNA polymerases as well as affecting primer annealing. Presently, high fidelity Taq DNA polymerase is used for amplifying long and GC-rich fragments, while dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has...

Ustilaginoidea virens is the fungal pathogen causing an emerging false smut disease which affects crop yield as well as deteriorates quality of the grains by producing mycotoxins. High quality genome of U. virens isolate UV2_4G was sequenced using Nanopore and Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing platforms. The total assembled genome of Indian isolate UV...

Luffa hermaphrodita Singh & Bhandari, known as Satputia, a semi-wild taxon originating from L. graveolens is an underutilized vegetable. It has a unique clustered fruiting habit, smooth fruits and bisexual flowers. Desirable traits such as plant architecture, earliness, crossability with ridge gourd and fertile hybrids has prospects for utilization...

Early seedling vigour is an important trait in direct seeded rice which determines the growth and yield. It is a complex trait and is found to be associated with germination and seedling growth. The rice genotypes, BPT 5204 and PB 1850-27 were screened for early seedling vigour traits and the data was recorded on germination percentage, root length...

The traditional Basmati rices grown in north-western foothills of Himalayas in India are known world-wide for their exquisite aroma and exceptional eating and cooking qualities. These varieties are tall and suffer heavy losses due to their susceptibility to lodging as well as blast disease. In present study, we improved a popular traditional Basmat...

Basmati rice is known for its extra-long slender grains, exceptional kernel dimensions after cooking, high volume expansion, and strong aroma. Developing high yielding Basmati rice varieties with good cooking quality is a gigantic task. Therefore, identifying the genomic regions governing the grain and cooked kernel dimension traits is of utmost im...

Aim: To understand the mechanism of necrosis incited by a host-selective phytotoxin designated as Rhizoctonia solani toxin (RST) identified to be a potential pathogenic factor of Rhizoctonia solani AG1 IA, causing sheath blight (ShB) of rice. Methods and results: The metabolomic changes induced by the phytotoxic metabolite in a ShB susceptible r...

The exploitation of heterosis through intersubspecific hybridisation between indica and japonica has been a major breeding target in rice, but is marred by the cross incompatibility between the genomes. Wide compatibility (WC) is a triallelic system at the S5 locus on chromosome 6 that ensures the specificity of hybridisation within and between ind...

A wealth of microarray and RNA-seq data for studying abiotic stress tolerance in rice exists but only limited studies have been carried out on multiple stress-tolerance responses and mechanisms. In this study, we identified 6657 abiotic stress-responsive genes pertaining to drought, salinity and heat stresses from the seedling stage microarray data...

Allelic variability of the aroma gene, betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (BADH2) was studied in a random subset of indigenous aromatic rice germplasm along with a few exotic aromatic accessions. Use of functional markers of four badh2 alleles identified that the test panel possessed only two alleles, badh2-E7 and badh2-p-5'UTR. Two other alleles, ba...

Temperature rise predicted for the future will severely affect rice productivity because the crop is highly sensitive to heat stress at the reproductive stage. Breeding tolerant varieties is an economically viable option to combat heat stress, for which the knowledge of target genomic regions associated with the reproductive stage heat stress toler...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) belongs to Poaceae family and serves as food for more than half of the global population. Domesticated from O. preperennis about 10,000 years ago, it is cultivated in a wide range of ecosystems right from below the sea level to high mountain regions. Genetic improvement in India has helped in improving average productivity fr...

Agriculture is the fundamental basis of human evolution and has evolved itself as the civilisations progressed. Crop breeding is a process in which the most chosen plant is selected for further cultivation. The science behind the genetics has paved the way to trait-based breeding, wherein desirable traits were selected over the undesired ones. The...

Genetic gain, achieved by any breeding and varietal development programme, can be realized only when there is a robust seed production system, underpinned by a systematic maintenance breeding programme. Breed (variety) and seed are two facets of the same coin—one without another is irrelevant. The full potential impact of a new improved variety, ho...

Sheath blight caused by necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani Kühn is one of the most serious diseases of rice. Use of high yielding semi dwarf cultivars with dense planting and high dose of nitrogenous fertilizers accentuates the incidence of sheath blight in rice. Its diverse host range and ability to remain dormant under unfavorable conditions...

Cytokinin glucosyltransferases (CGTs) are key enzymes of plants for regulating the level and function of cytokinins. In a genomic identification of rice CGTs, 41 genes with the plant secondary product glycosyltransferases (PSPG) motif of 44-amino-acid consensus sequence characteristic of plant uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) w...

Micronutrient malnutrition or hidden hunger is affecting more than 2 billion people globally. The nutrient deficiency is recognised as a major challenge in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Biofortification aims at enhancing the micronutrient status of the staple foods through genetic means. Breeding for improved varietie...

Abating the approaching yield plateau in rice requires taking advantage of potential technologies that requires knowledge on genetic diversity. Hybrid breeding, particularly in indica rice, requires the recruitment of large genetic variability from outside because the available genetic diversity of the cultivated pool has already been utilized to a...

Reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS) is a major challenge in rice production worldwide. Cultivar development with drought tolerance has been slow due to the lack of precise high throughput phenotyping tools to quantify drought stress-induced effects. Most of the available techniques are based on destructive sampling and do not assess the progre...

This book presents reviews on the application of the technology for crop improvement towards food and nutrition security, and research status on mutation breeding and associated biotechnologies in both seed crops and vegetatively propagated crops. It also presents perspectives on the significance of next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics in...

Sheath blight disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn (teleomorph; Thanatephorus cucumeris) is a major constraint in rice production. Among the different anastomosis groups (AGs) of Rhizoctonia solani, AG1-IA causes sheath blight of rice, which induce necrotic lesions on leaf sheaths of the infected plants. Several reports contradict the host spe...

Rapid deterioration of rice bran due to LOX3 enzyme catalysed oxidation of PUFA is the major bottleneck for its utilization in various downstream applications. In the present study, we have identified a set of nine novel LOX3-null accessions and further delineated a deletion of C residue in exon2 causing a frameshift mutation resulting in a truncat...

Increasing rice production is quintessential to the task of sustaining global food security, as a majority of the global population is dependent on rice as its staple dietary cereal. Among the various constraints affecting rice production, reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS) is a major challenge, due to its direct impact on grain yield. Severa...

Blast is one of the devastating diseases of rice which cause significant yield losses. Blast is mainly managed by the use of fungicides. However, this approach is not eco-friendly and causes health hazards. Basmati is the specialty rice of India with great export potential. However, the importing nations have increased the stringency in maximum per...

Impacts of climate change are being witnessed across the world, particularly in the tropics. In agriculture, this leads to frequent disturbances by abiotic and biotic stresses. The negative effects of climate change threaten sustainability of food production and thereby create food insecurity. Tropical agrarian countries are set to suffer from the...

Phytic acid (PA) acts as chelator of cationic mineral elements iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) and obstructs their absorption in the human gut. We have evaluated a set of 162 traditional rice landraces for phytic acid phosphorus (PA-P), inorganic phosphorus (Pi) and total phosphorus (TP). Wide variability was observed for PA-P, Pi and TP ranging from 1.12...

Rice germplasm is a rich resource for discovering genes associated with salt tolerance. In the current study, a set of 96 accessions were evaluated for seedling stage salinity tolerance and its component traits. Significant phenotypic variation was observed among the genotypes for all the measured traits and eleven accessions with high level of sal...

The genus Rosa is one of the most important genera of ornamental plants comprising of more than 120 species of which only eight were involved in the development of modern roses. Proper characterization and identification of the species require an accurate and reliable method that discriminates the different species. In the present study, 56 Simple...

Drought stress at the reproductive stage in rice is one of the most important cause for yield reduction, affecting both productivity and quality. All Basmati rice varieties, including the popular cultivar “Pusa Basmati 1 (PB1)” is highly sensitive to reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS). We report for the first time, improvement of a Basmati cu...

Reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS) is detrimental for rice, which affects its productivity as well as grain quality. In the present study, we introgressed two major quantitative trait loci (QTLs), namely, qDTY2.1 and qDTY3.1, governing RSDS tolerance in a popular high yielding non-aromatic rice cultivar, Pusa 44, through marker-assisted backc...

The present study was carried out at ICAR-IARI to standardize the protocol for screening of African marigold against saline stress under hydroponic system. Seedlings of African marigold cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda were grown under hydroponics system. They were treated with different levels of NaCl, viz. 0 mM 50 mM, 80 mM, 100 mM, 120 mM, 140 mM, 150 mM...

Aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L. Indica) is popular among consumers. They provide significant economic benefit to producing countries as well as farmers. Aromatic germplasm is huge and diverse in terms of agro-morphological characters, grain types and aroma content. Development of a representative coreset of aromatic germplasm can be a good source fo...

Breeding rice varieties with a low phytic acid (LPA) content is an effective strategy to overcome micronutrient deficiency in a population which consume rice as a staple food. An LPA mutant, Pusa LPA Mutant 11 (PLM11), was identified from an ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-induced population of Nagina 22. The present study was carried out to map the...

Abstract and Poster of International Plant Physiology Virtual Conference-2020 - Prospects of Plant Physiology for Climate Proofing Agriculture December, 6-7, 2020, page 116.

Water use efficiency (WUE) is an important physiological trait that has potential in sustaining crop productivity under water-limited condition. WUE can be increased by improving carbon gain and/or reducing tran-spiration. Normally, carbon gain and transpiration are interrelated and hence a trade-off exists between transpi-ration and WUE. Therefore...

Drought stress at the reproductive stage in rice is one of the most important cause for yield reduction, affecting both productivity and quality. All Basmati rice varieties, including the popular cultivar 'Pusa Basmati 1 (PB1)' is highly sensitive to reproductive stage drought stress (RSDS). We report for the first time, improvement of a Basmati cu...