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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #267968

Title: Quantitative trait loci for Fusarium head blight resistance in U.S. hard winter wheat cultivar heyne

Author
item ZHANG, XIANGHUI - Kansas State University
item Bai, Guihua
item BOCKUS, WILLIAM - Kansas State University
item JI, XIAOJIA - Kansas State University
item PAN, HONGYU - Jilin University

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/26/2011
Publication Date: 2/10/2012
Citation: Zhang, X., Bai, G., Bockus, W.W., Ji, X., Pan, H. 2012. Quantitative trait loci for Fusarium head blight resistance in U.S. hard winter wheat cultivar heyne. Crop Science. 52:1187-1194.

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive disease that can significantly reduce grain yield and quality. Hard winter wheat (HWW) cultivars growing in US Great Plains are mostly susceptible. Genetic factors, also called quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling FHB resistance have not been reported in HWW to date although they have been identified in many Chinese cultivars and other sources. ‘Heyne’ is a moderately FHB-resistant HWW from Kansas. We found three QTL are responsible for resistance in ‘Heyne’ after analyzing a recombinant inbred population from the cross ‘Trego’/‘Heyne’ using molecular markers. The three QTL were mapped on chromosomes 3AS, 4DL, and 4AL and reside in ‘Heyne’. These QTL can be used for improving FHB resistance in U.S. hard winter wheat by pyramiding them with Fhb1 or other major resistance QTL from Asian sources.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB), mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a destructive disease that can significantly reduce grain yield and quality. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for FHB Type II resistance have been identified in many Chinese cultivars and other sources, but have not been reported in U.S. hard winter wheat to date. ‘Heyne’ is a hard winter wheat from Kansas that has shown moderate Type II resistance to FHB. To reveal the QTL responsible for FHB resistance in ‘Heyne,’ recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from ‘Trego’/‘Heyne’ were evaluated for FHB resistance by single-floret inoculation in one field and three greenhouse experiments in 2009 and 2010. Percentage of symptomatic spikelets (PSS) in a inoculated spike was scored 18 days post-inoculation. After 922 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers were screened between the parents, 96 markers were polymorphic and used to screen the RIL. Three QTL were associated with FHB resistance and mapped on chromosomes 3AS, 4DL, and 4AL. The QTL on 3AS was flanked by Xgwm674 and Xbarc86 and explained up to 17.8% of phenotypic variation. Another QTL on 4DL was flanked by Xwmc331 and Xcfd23 and explained 13.8 to 23.4% of phenotypic variation. The third QTL on 4AL was flanked by Xgwm160 and Xbarc78 and explained up to 15.7% phenotypic variation. ‘Heyne’ contributed all resistance alleles of three QTL, so these QTL were designated as Qfhb.heyne-3AS, Qfhb.heyne-4DL, and Qfhb.heyne-4AL. These QTL can be used for improving FHB resistance in U.S. hard winter wheat by pyramiding them with Fhb1 or other major resistance QTL from Asian sources.