OUR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Increasing world rice production is vital to meet the dietary demands of growing global population. In Malaysia, rice is the most important food crop and is cultivated in about 0.6 million ha of arable land in the country. Conventional rice breeding carried out for the last 45 years resulted in the release of about 40 commercial modern cultivars having an average yield of about 5 tons per hectare.
Despite these advances, rice production is inadequate and has been on a plateau in recent years in rice producing and exporting countries. The introduction of genes from wild sources is one approach to further improve yield and yield related traits besides resistance to biotic and abiotic stress which has been demonstrated in many crop species. It is believed that the process of introducing the wild genes will reintroduce gene/traits that have gradually been weaned out due to the process of domestication.
Though the wild germplasm may not phenotypically show high yields but it is quite possible that some favourable genes may lay dormant amidst the thousands of wild accessions that could result in crop improvement. Oryza rufipogon genes imparted additional traits or improved the existing agronomic traits of O. sativa such as perenniality, better yield performance in upland or lowland conditions, grain quality, floral morphology, blast resistance and flood tolerance.
UKM had successfully transferred favourable wild alleles from O. rufipogon into O. sativa subsp. indica cv MR219 through advanced backcross breeding and developed four transgressive variants with high yield and early maturity and two transgressive variants with low to intermediate glycaemic index and high antioxidants. The new rice variety with low glycaemic index can be positioned as an agricultural solution to the increasing diabetic population in Malaysia and worldwide.
Source: Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 30:929
OUR COLLABORATION
Collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Collaboration with Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS)
OUR FINDINGS
Wickneswari R. 2019. Tropical Plant Genetics and Genomics: Investment for Future Security (in Malay). Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, 100p.
Nadarajah K. Wickneswari R. and Cheah B.H. 2020. miRNAs AND DROUGHT RESPONSE IN RICE. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, 133p.
Kalaivani Nadarajah, Wickneswari R. and Choong Chee Yen. 2017. Introduction. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 15-19.
Wickneswari R, Sabu K.K. and Md Atiqur Rahman Bhuiyan. 2017. Exploiting wild germplasm to enhance rice yield and quality. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 20-35.
Wickneswari R, Ankitta Mishra and Md Kamal Hossain. 2017. Breeding for durable resistance to blast and sheath blight diseases in rice. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 36-57.
Kalaivani Nadarajah, Chee Kin Yip, Hari Kumar Krishnan, Nurfarahana Syuhada, Nurul Hidayah Mat Muni, Vaanee Sangapillai and Wickneswari R. 2017. Understanding the anatomy of disease and resistance through plant microbe interactions. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 58-72.
Noraziyah Abd Aziz Shamsudin, Mohd Ikmal Asmuni, Nurasyikin Zainuddin and Wickneswari R. 2017. Breeding for grain yield under drought stress for Malaysian rice cultivars. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 73-94.
Kalaivani Nadarajah, Cheah Boon Huat and Wickneswari R. 2017. Identification of microRNAs responsible for drought response in rice. In: Wickneswari R. Nadarajah K. and Choong C.Y. (eds.) 2017. Applications of High Technology in Varietal Improvement of Rice. Penerbit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, pp. 95-112.
Wickneswari R. Choong C.Y. and Asif M.J. 2017. Development of genomic resources and assessing their potential for accelerated Acacia breeding. In: Abdullah, Siti Nor Akmar, Ho, Chai Ling, Wagstaff, Carol (Eds.). Crop Improvement. Sustainability through leading edge technology. Springer, Cham. Pp.117-135. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65079-1.
Nisha Govender, Zeti-Azura Mohamed-Hussein, Ratnam Wickneswari. 2019. Transcriptomic view of Jatropha curcas L. inflorescence. In: Sujatha Mulpuri, Carels Nicolas, Bahadur Bir (Eds.) 2019. Jatropha, Challenges for a New Energy Crop. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd, pp. 111-130.
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