Wheat Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat and causes significant yield losses in wheat worldwide. Using resistant cultivars is one of the most effective approaches to control FHB. Although more than 600 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) have been reported, most of them showed minor effects and were not consistent across environments. To explore new sources of resistance, an EMS-induced mutant population derived from an FHB-susceptible hard winter wheat cultivar ‘Jagger’ was screened for FHB resistance and one mutant line (1076EMSMut) showed significantly higher FHB resistance than Jagger ( < 0.01), with mean percentage of symptomatic spikelets in a spike (PSS) of 27% for 1076EMSMut and 80% for Jagger. A population of 164 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed from 1076EMSMut x Jagger and phenotyped for FHB resistance and several agronomic traits, including plant height (PH), heading date (HD), spike length (SL), and spikelet number (SN) in four greenhouse experiments. A genetic map was constructed using 1,992 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated by the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). Analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) identified ten QTLs for FHB resistance, only the QTL on 3A was significant for FHB resistance in multiple experiments and explained 9.19% - 12.01% of the phenotypic variation with the resistance allele from 1076EMSMut. Six QTLs were detected for SL, and only the 1B QTL was repeatable in two experiments and explained 11.44 and 17.06% of the phenotypic variation. Meanwhile, seven QTLs were identified for SN on 1B, 4A, 5A, 5B, 5D, 6A, and 7A. Among them, the 4A QTL was significant in two experiments and explained 10.78% and 11.51% of the phenotypic variation; the 7A QTL was significant in three experiments and increased SN by up to 13.66%. Repeatable QTL was not identified for PH and HD. The QTLs identified in this study should be useful for improvement of wheat FHB resistance and grain yield in hard winter wheat breeding programs.

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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.