Location: Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit
Project Number: 2072-21500-001-022-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Apr 1, 2026
End Date: Mar 31, 2028
Objective:
1) Evaluate the phenotypic variation and inheritance of Anguina funesta resistance in annual ryegrass.
2) Develop molecular markers for resistance to Anguina funesta.
3) Evaluate selected annual ryegrass half-sib families in naturally infested annual ryegrass field.
Approach:
Two-hundred diploid and tetraploid annual ryegrass varieties will be inoculated with A. funesta seed galls by planting five seeds per variety individually in plugs along with three nematode galls to initiate infestation to create a total panel size of 1000 plants. The panel will be transplanted to the field in October and again in March to represent fall and spring sown production. Nematode infestation and severity will be determined using a nucleic acid extraction and nanopore barcoding protocol developed by Co-PI Rivedal. Phenotypic variation and heritability will be evaluated between the two planting dates. Genome-wide association mapping will be performed from BLUPs generate from each environment to identify marker-trait association. Resistant plants will be selected for paired crossing to generate populations for further mapping. Additionally, susceptible plants will be terminated prior to anthesis and resistant plants will be top-crossed to generate half-sib families that will be further tested for resistance in naturally infested fields. All resistant material will be compiled and tested as an improved annual ryegrass germplasm.