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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Plant Science Research » Research » Research Project #438105

Research Project: Improving Management of Small-Grain Diseases

Location: Plant Science Research

Project Number: 6070-22000-018-035-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 1, 2020
End Date: Jul 30, 2022

Objective:
The objectives of the cooperative research between North Carolina State University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service is to screen advanced wheat and barley breeding materials for resistance to diseases such as Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB), provide data to breeding eastern-U.S. cereal breeding programs, and produce data on efficacy and timing of fungicides for reduction of Fusarium head blight in wheat and barley, comparing new fungicide products with proven standard products at various cereal growth stages.

Approach:
Cooperator will supply expertise in mathematical modeling and identification of factors leading to severe epidemics of fungal diseases, in cooperation with the USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit (PSRU). Such knowledge is critical for determining the likely durability of resistance sources, and therefore which sources of resistance to employ, and how resistant cultivars should then be deployed. The information will be used to help develop advanced and elite breeding lines of winter wheat. Lines selected from advanced breeding populations will be genotyped using available molecular markers, and phenotypes for reaction to fungal diseases will be obtained in cooperative disease screening experiments conducted in field, greenhouse and/or growth chamber trials. Fungicide tests will be performed in replicated, inoculated, irrigated field nurseries. Data and germplasm will be shared between ARS, North Carolina State University, and other collaborating scientists.