Understanding the genetics of field-based tolerance to high iron-associated (HIA) stress in rice can accelerate the development of new varieties with enhanced yield performance in West African lowland ecosystems. To date, few field-based studies have been undertaken to rigorously evaluate rice yield performance under HIA stress conditions. In this study, two NERICA × O. sativa bi-parental rice populations and one O.sativa diversity panel consisting of 296 rice accessions were evaluated for grain yield and leaf bronzing symptoms over multiple years in four West African HIA stress and control sites. Mapping of these traits identified a large number of QTLs and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with stress tolerance in the field. Favorable alleles associated with tolerance to high levels of iron in anaerobic rice soils were rare and almost exclusively derived from the indica subpopulation, including the most favorable alleles identified in NERICA varieties. These findings highlight the complex genetic architecture underlying rice response to HIA stress and suggest that a recurrent selection program focusing on an expanded indica genepool could be productively used in combination with genomic selection to increase the efficiency of selection in breeding programs designed to enhance tolerance to this prevalent abiotic stress in West Africa.

了解水稻对高铁相关（HIA）胁迫的田间耐受性的遗传学可以加速新品种的开发，并提高西非低地生态系统的产量表现。迄今为止，很少进行基于田间的研究来严格评估HIA胁迫条件下的水稻产量表现。在本研究中，两个NERICA×水稻 双亲水稻种群和一个 苜蓿在四个西非HIA胁迫和控制地点，多年评估了由296种水稻品种组成的多样性小组的谷物产量和叶片烫金症状。这些性状的映射确定了大量的QTL和单核苷酸多态性（SNP）与该领域的压力耐受性。与厌氧水稻土中高铁耐受性相关的有利等位基因很少见，并且几乎完全来源于印度亚群，包括在NERICA品种中鉴定出的最有利等位基因。这些发现凸显了水稻对HIA胁迫响应的复杂遗传结构，并提出了以扩大规模为重点的轮回选择计划印度 基因池可与基因组选择有效地结合使用，以提高育种程序的选择效率，该育种程序旨在增强对西非这种非生物胁迫的耐受性。