INHERITANCE OF AROMA IN SAANWAL BASMATI

Abstract

Aroma is an important economic trait in breeding rice for high eating quality. The aromatic character of Basmati rices has been attributed to the chemical 2-acetyl-l-pyrroline, which is present in all rice cultivars, but is present in significantly higher concentrations in these aromatic cultivars [1, 2]; Varying aromatic/noncaromatic F2 segregation ratios have been reported, including 1:3 ratio indicating a single recessive gene [5-8], 3:1 ratio ruggesting a single dominant aroma gene [9], 15:1 or 9:7 ratios indicating two dominant aroma genes interacting in a duplicate or complementary manner [iO,,11], 37:27 ratio indicating three complementary recessive aroma genes [12, 13], 175:81 ratio indicating four complementary recessive aroma genes [14] and 3:13 ratios indicating a single recessive aroma gene interacting with an inhibitor gene [3, 15]. Recently, Pinson [16] concluded that aroma is controlled by two recessive genes. The present study reports the identification of an aromatic rice cultivar, Saanwal Basmati, that contains a single dominant aroma gene.