Title of project: Development of banded leaf and sheath blight resistant transgenic maize
Objective:

• To establish a reproducible in-vitro regeneration method in maize using mature embryo as explants.
• Genetic transformation of Indian tropical maize using construct harbouring LOC_Os11g47510 gene.
• To evaluate transgenic maize lines for resistance against Rhizoctonia solani.

Project team: Principal Investigator: Dr. Krishan Kumar
Co- Principal Investigators: Dr. Deepak S. Bisht (NRCPB)

Major achievements: –
Till now, twenty three different tropical maize inbred lines and five hybrids were evaluated extensively for in vitro regeneration using split nodes and split embryo as explants (total more than 10,000 explants evaluated from 28 genotypes). The key achievements are as follow:

• In vitro callus induction have been achieved in three hybrids [DMRH1301 (~34%), DMRH1308 (~39%) and DHM117 (~33%)] and one inbred [BML6 (~33%)].
• Embryogenic calli from these genotypes were evaluated for regeneration in media containing 22 different combinations of auxin and cytokinin hormones. The best hormone combination identified.
• Best regeneration result found in DMRH1308 (74%) and DMRH1301 (38%).
• The in vitro regeneration using nodal explants has been repeated five times in both the hybrids.