Drought Yield QTL (qDTY) with Consistent Effects on Morphological and Agronomical Traits of Two Populations of New Rice (Oryza sativa) Lines

Drought has been a major limiting factor for rice production. Drought yield QTLs (qDTYs; QTLs = quantitative trait loci) were pyramided into MRQ74 and MR219 to produce drought tolerant lines. In this study, new drought tolerant MRQ74 and MR219 pyramided lines (PLs) were evaluated under drought stress (RS) and non-stress (NS) conditions to evaluate the effects of different qDTYs combinations on morphological and agronomical traits. MRQ74 PLs having qDTY12.1 possessed the best root length (RL) under both RS and NS but the effect was only significant for MR219 PLs under RS. Some qDTYs combinations also found to have consistent effect on the same trait of both populations. PLs with only qDTY12.1 showed the highest grain yield (GY) under RS in both populations which means qDTY12.1 controlled RL and caused higher GY under drought condition. The interaction of major-effect qDTY12.1 with qDTY2.2 also shows significant effect on leaf rolling (LR) of both PL populations. These qDTYs proved to be beneficial in improving traits related to drought tolerance. Selected PLs with qDTY12.1 combinations also found to have better RL and root weight (RW) under RS. Improvement of morphological and agronomical traits led to higher GY of PLs. Therefore, qDTY12.1 either is present singly or in combination with other qDTYs was the best qDTY due to its consistent effect on morphological and agronomical traits and GY across populations under RS and NS.