Project Number: 1920-22000-041-07
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 01, 2012
End Date: Sep 30, 2013

Objective:
1. Evaluation of U.S. wheat germplasm for resistance to wheat blast. 2. Development of new resistant germplasm. 3. Collection of new wheat pathotypes for M. oryzae for diagnostics development. 4. Collection of M. oryzae isolates from wild grasses in Paraguayan fields.

Approach:
U.S. wheat germplasm is currently being tested for wheat blast resistance in BSL-3 greenhouses and growth chambers at ARS Fort Detrick, MD and at the Bio-Security Research Institute, at Kansas State University. Germplasm showing less than 10 percent infection from these replicated inoculations will be sent to CAPECO for field evaluation. Winter wheat entries will be sent to Paraguay for 6-8 weeks of artificial vernalization, then transplanted to the field using a replicated, randomized hill-plot design. Spring-habit wheat will be sent for planting without vernalization. Results obtained from both greenhouse and field evaluations will be passed back to U.S. breeders for evaluation and development of new germplasm. Testing of potential new sources of resistance will be evaluated in both the greenhouse and through field screenings. New isolates of M. oryzae collected from wheat and wild grass sources in Paraguay will be used in the development and confirmation of new molecular diagnostics and detection methods.