USWBSI Abstract Viewer

2023 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum


Variety Development and Host Resistance (VDHR)

Poster # 515

Identification of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance (FHB) in USA Wheat Breeding Programs

Authors & Affiliations:

Lawrence Tidakbi 1, Guihua Bai 2, Jessica L. Rupp Noller 1, and Katherine W. Jordan 2
1. Kansas State University Department of Plant Pathology and Applied Wheat Pathology Lab, Manhattan, KS,
2. United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Services(USDA-ARS) Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit (HWWGRU), Manhattan, KS.
Corresponding Email: katherine.jordan@usda.gov; Email: ltidakbi@ksu.edu

Corresponding Author:

Lawrence Tidakbi
ltidakbi@ksu.edu

Abstract:

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is a major pathogenic fungal disease affecting wheat in the USA caused by Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae), with a major economic impact on wheat production and human health due to the production of mycotoxins. Breeding for FHB resistance in adapted wheat varieties is not trivial due to the complexity of the wheat genome and several minor effect alleles identified in QTL studies. To successfully develop resistance wheat to FHB disease, diagnostic markers for quantitative traits loci (QTLs) across the wheat genome need to be identified to help pyramid promising resistance genes into adapted wheat varieties in breeding programs. We are associating phenotypic and genotypic data from a panel of 270 wheat cultivars from across the US covering all market classes. The objective is to identify novel QTLs for wheat resistance to Fusarium and build a genomic selection (GS) model. Preliminary results show significant variability in phenotypic scab severity, the normalized area under the disease progressive curve (AUDPC), and fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) across breeding lines, including some more resistant than the moderately resistant control. Additionally, ~15x sequencing data from these lines produced nearly 600,000 variants across the wheat genome for association analyses and model building. Using best linear unbiased predictors (BLUP) values of our phenotypic traits (AUDPC & FDK); including DON of the first year, we mapped QTLs conferring resistance and susceptibility alleles for FHB using this panel of wheat lines using mixed linear model genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Markers closely linked to these resistance or susceptibility QTLs will be developed into diagnostic markers for marker-assisted selection of FHB-resistant wheat lines in breeding programs in Kansas and across the USA.


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