Location: Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research
Project Number: 3020-21000-012-035-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2026
End Date: Aug 31, 2028
Objective:
1) Conduct mutational analysis of stripe rust-resistant Amblyopyrum muticum introgression plants for the purpose of cloning the resistance genes.
2) Conduct mutational analysis of leaf rust-resistant Triticum timopheevii introgression plants for the purpose of cloning the resistance genes.
3) Conduct field screening of wheat lines for resistance to stripe rust and stem rust.
4) Evaluate the Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) pyramid outputs, which combined Fhb1, Fhb7, and Fhb9 into well-adapted hard winter wheat (HWW) varieties under field conditions.
5) Test a genomic selection (GS) model on breeding program lines submitted hard winter wheat (HWW) FHB regional nursery and regional performance nursery (RGON) for FHB resistance.
Approach:
Triticum timopheevii and Amblyopyrum muticum are wild relatives of wheat carrying many useful traits. Introgression lines have been created whereby small portions of the genome from T. timopheevii and Am. muticum have been transferred to wheat. We have identified introgression lines with small alien segments that confer leaf rust and stripe rust resistance, and we plan to clone the resistance genes in those lines. Two thousand seeds of a stripe rust-resistant T. timopheevii and Am. muticum introgression lines will be treated with EMS chemical mutagen. Plants will be greenhouse-grown and allowed to self-fertilize after treatment. The second, third and fourth generation will be screened with the stripe rust fungus (T. timopheevii) and leaf rust fungus (Am. muticum) to identify mutants that are susceptible.
For FHB we will evaluate genetic background and additive effects of allelic interactions in HWW pyramided Fhb1-Fhb7-Fhb9 populations in the field inoculated FHB nursery in Manhattan, KS. Additional resistance sources from soft winter wheat (SWW) will be introduced into the HWW pyramids to decrease AUDPC and DON levels in regionally-adapted HWW, and then evaluate the traits for performance in the KSU FHB nursery. This data will be used to evaluate genomic selection and prediction models on HWW breeding materials evaluated also in the regional FHB nursery Kansas site(s).