Fusarium head blight (FHB), mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease in wheat worldwide. The disease causes significant yield losses and reduces grain quality. Use of host resistance is one of the major components in the integrated approach to manage the disease. However, resistance to FHB is a complex trait controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTL) and affected by environmental conditions. Identification of QTL for FHB resistance and development of DNA markers associated with them in the resistance sources are critical for their effective deployment in wheat breeding programs. In this study, we aimed to map and validate QTL for FHB resistance in a bi-parental population consisting of 115 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross between a spring wheat cultivar ‘Glenn’ and a spring wheat breeding line ‘GP112’. Glenn was developed by NDSU spring wheat breeding program from a cross between ‘ND2831’ and ‘Steele-ND’, and it exhibits moderate resistance to FHB. GP112 is an FHB-resistant RIL derived from a cross between ‘Grandin’ (an FHB-susceptible wheat cultivar) and ‘PI 277012’ (a wheat line conferring a high level of FHB resistance). The RIL population was evaluated for FHB resistance in three greenhouse experiments and three field disease nurseries located in Fargo and Langdon in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) of RILs and their parents (Glenn and GP112) was conducted to generate SNP markers and a genetic map with 806 unique SNP markers covering 1723.73 cM was constructed. QTL analysis identified one major FHB resistance QTL on chromosome 3A, which explained 16% of the phenotypic variation in the greenhouse experiments. Three minor QTL for FHB resistance were detected on chromosomes 1A, 2D and 4B in only one or two field experiments. Our findings provide insights on genetics of FHB resistance and may facilitate FHB resistance improvement in wheat breeding programs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND DISCLAIMER
This material is based upon work partially supported by North Dakota Wheat Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Agreement No. 59-0206-2-162 (USWBSI). This is a cooperative project with the U.S. Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.