Authors: Ruolin Bian 1, Jinan Park 1, Lanfei Zhao 1, Amy Bernardo 2, Paul St. Amand 2, Brett Carver 3, Alan Fritz 1, Sunish Sehgal 4, Katherine Frels 5, Francois Marais 6, Mason Esten 7, Mary Guttieri 2, and Guihua Bai 2,1
1. Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506;
2. USDA-ARS, Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit, Manhattan, KS 66506;
3. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078;
4. Department of Horticulture and Plant Science, Brookings, SD 57007;
5. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE 68588;
6. Department of Plant Sciences North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108;
7. Deprtment of Soil and Crop; Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
Corresponding author: Guihua Bai, guihua.bai@ars.usda.gov
Presenting Author: Ruolin Bian
Abstract
Wheat Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat worldwide. Using resistant cultivars is the most effective approach to control FHB. However, hard winter wheat (HWW) cultivars used in farmers’ fields in the U.S. are mainly FHB susceptible. Large scale pyramiding of the major effect genes for FHB resistance in HWW wheat cultivars from FHB-prone states can enhance the resistance levels and durability of wheat cultivars in the region. To date, two major genes (Fhb1 and Fhb7) have been cloned with diagnostic gene makers (TaHRC-KASP and Fhb7-828bp). Fhb9 also showed a major effect with flanking markers (KASP-10238 and KASP-12056) available. This study was designed to simultaneously transfer the three genes into the 15 U.S. HWW cultivars from six states (KS, CO, NE, OK, SD, ND and USDA-ARS) using marker-assisted selection (MAS). All recurrent parents were evaluated for FHB resistance in greenhouses. Among those, five were moderately resistant, three were moderately susceptible and other were highly susceptible. The four markers showed clear polymorphisms between donors and all recurrent parents. We first pyramided the three genes from different donors, and then crossed and backcrossed each recurrent parent to the heterozygous progeny carrying all three genes using MAS. This fall, we screened 8,320 plants with the four markers and selected 2,785 BC2F2 plants that carry the target alleles (either homozygote or heterozygote) at all three genes from 13 cultivars. Two other cultivars are in earlier stage of backcrossing due to later heading that did not match flowering time with the donor parents. The selected BC2F2 plants will be advanced and their BC2F3 lines will be genotyped with the four markers to select plants with at least two homozygous resistance genes. The selected BC2F3 lines will be genotyped with the genome-wide MRASeq markers for background selection. The BC2F4 seeds will be released to the seven breeding programs for further testing of agronomic traits to develop new cultivars or germplasms.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND DISCLAIMER
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is a cooperative project with the U.S. Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the US Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.