Genetic Enhancement of Rice for Salt-Affected Areas of Bangladesh

Soil salinity causes significant adverse impact on agriculture since Bangladesh is one of the seaside countries. Significant progress has been made by Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture in the last decade for developing salt-tolerant varieties. Development of Binadhan-8 and Binadhan-10 for dry season was a new dimension for breeding salt-tolerant rice in Bangladesh. The salinity tolerance and yield of the varieties ranged from electrical conductivity (EC) 8 to 12 dS m−1 and 5.5 to 8 t/ha, respectively, in different saline-prone areas. Using marker-assisted selection (MAS) and marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) as an advanced tool provided opportunities to introgress of Saltol QTL (quantitative trait loci) to popular varieties in Bangladesh. Considerable progress was made to introgress Saltol QTL into Binadhan-7, a popular short-duration aman variety in Bangladesh through marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC). Those introgressed lines are tested in the farmers’ field in coastal region. The main focus was to pyramid multiple stress-tolerant genes (salinity, submergence) into mega-varieties of rice to ensure better adaptability in salt-affected areas.