ARS | Publication request: Introgression of two major FHB-resistance QTLs into durum and hard red spring wheat

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 6, 2010
Publication Date: December 7, 2010
Citation: Xu, S.S., Chu, C., Friesen, T.L., Chao, S., Zhong, S., Halley, S., Cai, X., Elias, E.M. 2010. Introgression of two major FHB-resistance QTLs into durum and hard red spring wheat. Meeting Abstract. pg. 172.

Technical Abstract: Identification and deployment of novel sources of resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB) are crucial in the current effort in fighting against this serious disease in durum and bread wheat. Recently, we identified and mapped a novel major FHB resistance QTL on chromosome arm 5AL and another major QTL on 5AS in the hexaploid wheat accession PI 277012. This accession has been misclassified as cultivated emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum) in the National Small Grain Collection. PI 277012 is a spring wheat with non-free threshing spikes as well as being morphologically similar to synthetic hexaploid wheat. Thus it is not suitable for direct uses in wheat breeding. The objective of this study was to transfer the two QTLs into durum and hard red spring wheat cultivars adapted to the Northern Great Plains. The accession PI 277012 was crossed with three hard red spring cultivars (‘Grandin’, ‘Reeder’, and ‘Russ’) and three durum cultivars (‘Ben’, ‘Lebsock’, and ‘Divide’), and the F1 hybrids were then backcrossed with those cultivars to produce BC1 seeds. The BC1F1 plants were advanced to the BC1F4 generation through greenhouse evaluation and selection. The BC1F5-derived lines with putative FHB resistance and good agronomic performance were evaluated in field disease nurseries at two locations (Fargo and Langdon, ND). Through this process, a number of hard red spring wheat lines with high levels of FHB resistance and several durum lines with improved levels of FHB resistance were identified. Molecular marker analysis showed that these resistant lines carry at least one of the two major QTLs from PI 277012, indicating that the high level of FHB resistance in PI 277012 can be steadily expressed in different genetic backgrounds.