Fusarium Head Blight is a destructive disease affecting the grain yield and quality of wheat, barley, rye and triticale. Developing varieties with genetic resistance is integral to successfully managing FHB. Triticale is an important forage and cover crop with steadily increasing acreage throughout the USA. Triticale’s high protein content and favorable composition of amino acids makes it a desirable livestock feed, whereas high biomass and nitrogen use efficiency make it a highly recommended cover crop. However, a significant knowledge gap exists in the genetic variation for FHB resistance in triticale. This information is critical for breeding new varieties of triticale as its production continues to increase. In the present study, a set of 298 winter-type Triticale accessions from a worldwide collection were screened for their type-2 FHB resistance in a misted nursery using high levels of FHB inoculum.  Most of the Triticale accessions were susceptible to FHB, and only 8% of accessions showed resistance in the nursery screening. The resistant accessions identified in the nursery screening were selected and further screened for three years in greenhouse conditions. Seven accessions were found to show robust FHB resistance over the three years of greenhouse testing. Thirteen accessions showed significantly lower levels of DON accumulation when compared to a susceptible Triticale control. The accessions identified in the study will be useful in Triticale breeding programs for enhancing FHB resistance and reducing DON accumulation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND DISCLAIMER

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 59-0206-0-179, 59-0200-6-018, and 59-0206-4-023 as cooperative projects with the U.S. Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.