Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Doubled-Haploid Lines Derived from Crosses with a Resistant Winter Wheat Parent

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a major disease of wheat, causing substantial yield losses when weather is humid at anthesis. The use of resistant varieties is the most effective way to control the disease. Most research on genetics of FHB resistance concentrated on Chinese spring cultivars and less is known about inheritance of FHB resistance in winter wheat. This study was conducted to investigate the inheritance of resistance to FHB in crosses with the line F201R, a FHB resistant Romanian winter wheat selected from a complex cross involving several sources of resistance, not related to the Chinese resistant germplasm. Area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and relative weight of inoculated spikes (RWIS) in doubled haploid lines (DH), derived from crosses of F2OIR with parents with different levels of FHB resistance, were studied under artificial inoculation in the field, during 1997–1999. Recovery of high levels of resistance was easily possible in DH lines from crossing F201R with a susceptible parent. Transgressive segregation was common, mostly for RWIS and in the cross between resistant parents, with resistance coming from different sources of resistance. Further progress in FHB resistance seems possible by cumulating resistance genes of different origin.