New sources of resistance to fusarium head blight in spring wheat

  • Term: Three years, beginning in 2016

  • Status: Complete (CLICK HERE for the performance story)

  • Funding Amount: $47,917

  • Lead Researcher(s): Randy Kutcher (U of S)

  • Funding Partners: Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture - Agriculture Development Fund (ADF)

Project Description

The objectives of this project are to identify wheat germplasm with new sources of fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance by screening a world collection of Triticum aestivum accessions and to identify novel alleles for FHB resistance from a synthetic hexaploidy wheat population.

Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) has a collection of approximately 14,000 accessions of Triticum aestivum collected worldwide, which may include new sources of resistance to FHB. We will select 4000 accessions from this collection based on knowledge of the genetic diversity in the collection and screen these in a field fusarium disease nursery. After two seasons of evaluation, 400 of the most promising accessions will be selected and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) will be conducted to confirm the new genes for resistance to FHB.

Pests & Disease, FHB, Variety DevelopmentSask Wheat2015-2016, All Projects, Completed Projects