Invited Presenter

Richard Boyles ¹, Jason Cook ², Jessica Rutkoski ³, Andrew Friskop ⁴, Sunish Sehgal ⁵, Charlotte Brault ⁶
1. Clemson University, Plant and Environmental Sciences, Florence, SC
2. Montana State University, Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Bozeman, MT
3. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Crop Sciences, Urbana, IL
4. North Dakota State University, Plant Pathology, Fargo, ND
5. South Dakota State University, Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science, Brookings, SD
6. University of Minnesota, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, St. Paul, MN
Corresponding Author: Richard Boyles, rboyles@clemson.edu

Boyles, Richard

rboyles@clemson.edu

In the past 4-year funding cycle, over 50 cultivars were released across four major wheat classes: spring, durum, hard red winter, and soft red winter. The Variety Development and Host Resistance (VDHR) Coordinated Projects that cover each of these market classes have made breeding for FHB resistance a top priority, and the dedication has paid off for the wheat industry and the many thousands of producers that support it. Resistance genes from both native and exotic sources are now commonly found in elite lines tested by the 25 wheat breeding programs that receive USWBSI funding. Many cultivars released from these programs possess more than one known FHB resistance QTL, and this gene stacking has escalated due to year-over-year FHB phenotyping in inoculated nurseries and with routine marker screening. The exotic resistance gene Fhb1, originating from Sumai 3, is now pervasive throughout gene pools of most major wheat classes, with more than 20 varieties released in the past four years harboring this effective gene. Many of these releases with Fhb1 or multiple resistance QTL from native sources are doubled haploids (DHs), which has expedited the breeding cycle. Many programs now set their sights on incorporating Fhb7 from Thinopyrum elongatum to further boost FHB resistance and reduce the reliance on Fhb1 and popular native resistance alleles. In complement, breeders are utilizing genomic selection to stack favorable alleles and build more robust resistance to remain ahead of Fusarium graminearum’s ability to overcome isolated resistance mechanisms. Approaches like genomic prediction and the onset of automated or semi-automated field phenotyping are enabling FHB resistance screening earlier in the breeding pipeline at higher population sizes, which will lead to more accelerated gains.

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