European Wheat Research Articles

Evaluation of environmental and management effects on Fusarium head blight infection and deoxynivalenol concentration in the grain of winter wheat

During the past decade European wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) crops were increasingly affected by Fusarium head blight (FHB) infection and high deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration in the grain. This is discussed to be primarily caused by the application of conservation tillage practices and, simultaneously, enhanced cultivation of host crops such as maize and wheat. This study investigated the effect of several environmental and management factors on DON formation and, particularly, interactions between factors. Moreover, a methodology was developed to quantify the relative effect of single factors, and combinations of two or more management factors on the DON concentration in order to evaluate management strategies with regard to their potential effect on DON formation. In 2001 and 2002, FHB infection of wheat and DON concentration in the grain was determined on eight sites of a long-term on-farm tillage experiment located in southern and eastern Germany. In addition, three-factorial plot trials varying tillage, cultivar, and fungicide application were conducted at Goettingen, Lower Saxony, in 2001 and 2002. Based on these data, the severity of the effect of year, preceding crop, tillage, wheat cultivar and fungicide application was calculated as follows: mean DON value of the treatment with the highest DON concentration obtained in the study divided by the lowest treatment mean value. For each influencing factor the calculation was done on average of the other factors included. The following ranking order was obtained: annual variation of rainfall during wheat anthesis (4.4) = Fusarium infection/susceptibility of the preceding crop (wheat versus sugar beet, 4.3) = Fusarium susceptibility of the wheat cultivar grown (4.3–5.6) > soil tillage applied to cultivate wheat (1.3–3.4) ≥ fungicide application at anthesis of wheat (2.1). The relative effect of combinations of two or more management factors on the DON concentration can be calculated by multiplying severity factors. Limitations of this method are due to strong interactions between some of the factors (e.g. cultivar × fungicide application, cultivar × tillage). Within tillage treatments shallow mixing conservation tillage increased the DON concentration only slightly compared to conventional mouldboard ploughing, if previous wheat straw soil cover was reduced to about 30%. In this case, the severity of the effect of tillage was much smaller compared to year, preceding crop, and cultivar. Data also reveal that FHB infection values counted in the field do not give a reliable prediction of the DON concentration. It is concluded, that choosing a resistant cultivar is a powerful tool to ensure a low DON concentration in wheat grain even under highly infectious conditions. This strategy enables farmers to make use of the benefits of conservation tillage and, simultaneously, produce high quality wheat grain.

Allele Distribution at Microsatellite Locus Xgwm 261 Marking the Dwarfing Gene Rht8 in Hexaploid Wheat from Bulgarian and Belgian Gene Bank Collections and its Application in Breeding Programs

ABSTRACTThe study of inheritance and distribution of alleles linked to important agronomic characters is of a great value for planning breeding programs directed towards development of high-yielding hexaploid wheat varieties. The wheat microsatellite marker Xgwm 261 is of particular interest to international breeders because of its association with a commercially significant reduced height phenotype. The allele distribution at the tightly linked to the dwarfing gene Rht8 microsatellite Xgwm 261 locus was analyzed in the modern hexaploid wheat varieties and advanced breeding lines from the gene bank of Dobrudja Agricultural Institute (DAI), G. Toshevo, Bulgaria and CRAW, Gembloux, Belgium. A prevalence of 192 bp allele at Xgwm 261 was found in Bulgarian and other South-Eastern European wheat varieties collected at DAI, G. Toshevo, Bulgaria thus indicating the adaptive significance of the corresponding allele of Rht8 gene in this geographical region. The majority of wheat varieties from CRAW gene bank, Belgium carried 174 bp and 164 bp allele variants and only few of them were with 192 and 196 bp. The study demonstrated that a limited number of varieties and advanced breeding lines from the gene bank of Dobrudja Agricultural Institute—G. Toshevo, Bulgaria carried 164bp, 174bp, 194 bp, 196 bp and Xgwm 261 variants over 200bp.

Stacking quantitative trait loci (QTL) for Fusarium head blight resistance from non-adapted sources in an European elite spring wheat background and assessing their effects on deoxynivalenol (DON) content and disease severity

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating disease in wheat that reduces grain yield, grain quality and contaminates the harvest with deoxynivalenol (DON). As potent resistance sources Sumai 3 and its descendants from China and Frontana from Brazil had been analysed by quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. We introgressed and stacked two donor QTL from CM82036 (Sumai 3/Thornbird) located on chromosomes 3B and 5A and one donor QTL from Frontana on chromosome 3A in elite European spring wheat and estimated the effects of the three individual donor QTL and their four combinations on DON, Fusarium exoantigen content, and FHB rating adjusted to heading date. One class with the susceptible QTL alleles served as control. Each of the eight QTL classes was represented by 12-15 F(3)-derived lines tested in F(5) generation as bulked progeny possessing the respective marker alleles homozygously. Traits were evaluated in a field experiment across four locations with spray inoculation of Fusarium culmorum. All three individual donor-QTL alleles significantly reduced DON content and FHB severity compared to the marker class with no donor QTL. The only exception was the donor-QTL allele 3A that had a low, but non-significant effect on FHB severity. The highest effect had the stacked donor-QTL alleles 3B and 5A for both traits. They jointly reduced DON content by 78% and FHB rating by 55% compared to the susceptible QTL class. Analysis of Fusarium exoantigen content illustrates that lower disease severity is associated with less mycelium content in the grain. In conclusion, QTL from non-adapted sources could be verified in a genetic background of German elite spring wheat. Within the QTL classes significant (P<0.05) genotypic differences were found among the individual genotypes. An additional phenotypic selection would, therefore, be advantageous after performing a marker-based selection.

Genetic diversity of European spelt wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta L. em. Thell.) revealed by glutenin subunit variations at the Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci

High and low molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS and LMW-GS) compositions of 270 European spelts, 15 Iranian spelts and 25 bread wheat cultivars were analyzed by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The results revealed a total of 22 HMW-GS alleles (4 at Glu-A1, 11 at Glu-B1 and 7 at Glu-D1) and 32 allele combinations among the three Glu-1 loci. Two major genotypes of HMW-GS: 1, 13+16, 2+12 and 1, 6.1+22.1, 2+12 were found to occur in Central European spelt wheat cultivars and landraces at higher frequencies of 35 and 28%, respectively. The Glu-B1 locus displayed the greatest variation and genetic diversity index (H) was 0.69 whereas Glu-A1 and Glu-D1 showed H index values of 0.26 and 0.19, respectively. The dendrogram constructed by HMW and LMW glutenin subunit bands revealed that European spelts form a separated cluster from common wheat suggesting that spelt and common wheat form distinct groups. In addition, all 15 Iranian spelt land variety accessions differed from European spelts and possessed similar HMW-GS alleles to common wheat. Because of a wider polymorphism Central European spelt wheats are an important genetic reserviour for improving common wheat quality.

SSR allelic diversity changes in 480 European bread wheat varieties released from 1840 to 2000

A sample of 480 bread wheat varieties originating from 15 European geographical areas and released from 1840 to 2000 were analysed with a set of 39 microsatellite markers. The total number of alleles ranged from 4 to 40, with an average of 16.4 alleles per locus. When seven successive periods of release were considered, the total number of alleles was quite stable until the 1960s, from which time it regularly decreased. Clustering analysis on Nei's distance matrix between these seven temporal groups showed a clear separation between groups of varieties registered before and after 1970. Analysis of qualitative variation over time in allelic composition of the accessions indicated that, on average, the more recent the European varieties, the more similar they were to each other. However, European accessions appear to be more differentiated as a function of their geographical origin than of their registration period. On average, western European countries (France, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium) displayed a lower number of alleles than southeastern European countries (former Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary) and than the Mediterranean area (Italy, Spain and Portugal), which had a higher number. A hierarchical tree on Nei's distance matrix between the 15 geographical groups of accessions exhibited clear opposition between the geographical areas north and south of the arc formed by the Alps and the Carpathian mountains. These results suggest that diversity in European wheat accessions is not randomly distributed but can be explained both by temporal and geographical variation trends linked to breeding practices and agriculture policies in different countries.

Development of SNP Assays for Genotyping the Puroindoline b Gene for Grain Hardness in Wheat Using Pyrosequencing

Grain hardness is one of the most important quality characteristics of cultivated bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and has been reported to result from either a failure to express puroindoline a (Pina) or single-nucleotide mutations in puroindoline b (Pinb). Up to now, seven alleles from Pinb-D1a to Pinb-D1g were identified in bread wheat. Compared to the DNA coding region of Pinb-D1a (allele for softness), six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in six alleles for Pinb-D1. In this study, we used pyrosequencing technology to develop two SNP assays for identification of the seven Pinb alleles and characterized SNP variations in the Pinb of 493 European wheat varieties. Of the three hardness alleles Pinb-D1b, Pinb-D1c, and Pinb-D1d detected in this study, Pinb-D1b was the most predominant hardness allele in European hard wheats. The hardness genotypes of partial German wheat varieties available confirmed the reliability and validation of the SNP assays developed for the Pinb locus. Therefore, pyrosequencing technology offers an efficient, precise, and reliable concept for high-throughout genotyping to assist selection of grain hardness genes in wheat quality breeding programs.

Historic Role of the Wheat Variety Akakomugi in Southern and Central European Wheat Breeding Programs

The old semidwarf, not very attractive, Japanese wheat variety Akakomugi was the source of the dwarfing gene Rht8 and photoperiodic insensitive gene PpD1 to many semidwarf wheat varieties in South and Central Europe in the 20th century. Integrating the Rht8 and PpD1 genes in wheat varieties offered the best opportunities for reducing plant height, accelerating time of flowering, improving grain fill before the onset of dry summer conditions, enhancing spikelet fertility, and consequently increasing yields. Many breeders from South and Central Europe and from the former Soviet Union were creating winter short high yielding wheat varieties without knowing at the time that Akakomugi was the donor of such important genes. At the end of the 20th century, it was discovered that dwarfing gene Rht8 and photoperiodic insensitive gene PpD1 are located on the short arm of chromosome 2D in wheat. Microsatellite analyses proved that Akakomugi is the source for the Rht8 and PpD1 genes in many short wheat varieties in South and Central Europe.

Detection of gluten-containing cereals in flours and “gluten-free” bakery products by polymerase chain reaction

A polymerase chain reaction-based method for the detection of gluten-containing cereals in flours and “gluten-free” bakery products was optimized and its intralaboratory validation was carried out. The optimized method involved DNA isolation by chaotropic solid-phase extraction and PCR with primers of Dahinden et al. [Dahinden I., von Büren M., Lüthy J., 2001. A quantitative competitive PCR system to detect contamination of wheat, barley and rye in gluten-free food for coeliac patients. European Food Research and Technology 212, 228–233]. Using purified DNA, intrinsic detection limit of 42 ± 12 pg was determined, which corresponds to 10° genome copies. By the analysis of a panel of 26 European wheat cultivars and flours from six non-gluten-containing plants, which are commonly used for the production of gluten-free bakery products, inclusivity of 100% and exclusivity of 100% were determined. By the analysis of model samples of soya flour and cakes, detection limit of 0.1% (w/w) of fine wheat flour was determined, which is suitable for the analysis of “gluten-free” food products, as it is approximately equivalent to the limit of 10 mg per 100 g for gluten stated by Codex Alimentarius. The method was successfully applied to four samples of flours and 13 brands of biscuits designated “gluten-free”, out of which two flours and one brand of biscuits were found positive for gluten-containing cereals. The method proved to be suitable for routine use, it was relatively straightforward and could be completed in one working day.

Protein Heterogeneity in European Wheat Landraces and Obsolete Cultivars: Additional Information II

The endosperm storage protein of 46 European wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landraces and obsolete cultivars have been fractionated by SDS-PAGE to determine the composition of high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) composition. It has been discovered that about 46% of the wheats were heterogeneous, comprising 2–11 different glutenin profiles. Eighteen of them were observed to be homogeneous. A total of 13 HMW-GS alleles, including 3 at the Glu-A1, 8 at the Glu-B1, and 3 at the Glu-D1 loci were revealed. HMW-GS null controlled by locus Glu-A1, subunits 7 + 8 by Glu-B1, and 2 + 12 by Glu-D1 predominated. However low frequented alleles such as 17 + 18, 20, 6, and 7 were observed. Furthermore, other new alleles encoding HMW-GS at the locus Glu-B1 have been found in one of France cultivar (Saumur d’Automne). The glutenin-based quality score ranged from 4 to 10.

Protein heterogeneity in European wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars: Additional information

Protein heterogeneity in European wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars: Additional information

Presence of a Translocation from Aegilops ventricosa in Wheat Cultivars Registered in the Czech Republic

The presence of a translocation from Aegilops ventricosa carrying the genes for rust resistance Yr17, Lr37 and Sr38 was analysed in recently registered, mostly western European wheat cultivars in the Czech Republic. By means of a PCR marker the presence of the translocation was determined in cvs. Bill, Clarus, Clever, Corsaire, Rapsodia, and in the Czech cv. Rheia. Novel are the data for cvs. Rapsodia, Clarus and Rheia. Infection tests indicated the presence of additional leaf rust resistance genes in cultivars with the translocation, except in cv. Rheia. Segregating progenies of six crosses between cv. Renan possessing Lr37and different cultivars susceptible to leaf rust were tested for the presence of the translocation with Yr17, Lr37 and Sr38 by an infection test as well as by a molecular marker. High coincidence between the results from infection tests and those by the marker has been proved. &amp;nbsp;

Impact of inhibition sensitivity on endoxylanase functionality in wheat flour breadmaking.

A Bacillus subtilis endoxylanase (XBS(i)) sensitive to inhibition by Triticum aestivum L. endoxylanase inhibitor (TAXI) and a mutant thereof (XBS(ni)), uninhibited by TAXI, were used in straight-dough breadmaking to assess the importance of endoxylanase inhibition sensitivity on endoxylanase functionality in the process. With two European wheat flours, the loaf volume improving effect of XBS(ni) at much lower enzyme dosages was substantially larger than that brought about by XBS(i). This coincided with differences in arabinoxylan (AX) hydrolysis. Although XBS(ni) had a lower substrate selectivity for water-unextractable arabinoxylan (WU-AX) than XBS(i), the former solubilized significantly more WU-AX than XBS(i). Because of inhibition, XBS(i) solubilized most of the WU-AX during mixing, whereas, with XBS(ni), the rate of solubilization decreased less with increasing processing time than that with XBS(i). During fermentation and baking and at the highest dosage (600 U/kg of flour of XBS(i) and 60 U/kg of flour of XBS(ni)), XBS(ni) induced a stronger degradation of enzymically solubilized and water-extractable AX than XBS(i). Taken together, the data clearly demonstrate that endoxylanases, which in vitro are inhibited by endoxylanase inhibitors and still are active in the breadmaking process, as demonstrated by their functional (bread volume) enhancing effect, gradually lose their activity in the process.

Relationships between ozone exposure and yield loss in European wheat and potato—a comparison of concentration- and flux-based exposure indices

Abstract Data from open-top chamber experiments with field grown crops, performed in Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Italy and Germany, were combined to derive relationships between yield and ozone exposure for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Three different exposure indices were compared: AOT40 (accumulated exposure over a threshold ozone concentration of 40 nmol mol−1), CUOt (cumulative stomatal uptake of ozone, using a constant ozone uptake rate threshold of t nmol m−2 s−1) and mAOTc0 (conductance modified AOT using a threshold concentration for ozone of c0 nmol mol−1). The latter is essentially a combination of AOT and CUO. Ozone uptake was estimated using a Jarvis-type multiplicative model for stomatal conductance. In terms of correlation between relative yield (RY) and ozone exposure, CUO5, the CUO index with an ozone uptake rate threshold of 5 nmol m−2 s−1, performed best for both wheat and potato, resulting in r2 values of 0.77 and 0.64, respectively. CUO5 performed considerably better in terms of the correlation between RY and ozone exposure, than AOT40 for wheat, while mAOT10, the best performing mAOT index in this case, was intermediate in performance for this crop. For potato, the differences between the different ozone exposure indices AOT40, CUO5 and mAOT20 (the mAOT index performing best for potato) in the correlation between RY and ozone exposure were relatively small. To test the assumption that the non-stomatal deposition of ozone was negligible for the uppermost, sunlit leaves, measurements of ozone uptake in relation to leaf conductance for water vapor of wheat leaves in a cuvette system were used. The non-stomatal deposition of ozone to the leaves turned out to be comparatively small. Based on the non-stomatal conductance (gns=15 mmol m−2 s−1) estimated for the wheat leaves in the cuvette system, it was concluded that the consequence of omitting the non-stomatal conductance is small. In conclusion the study indicated that the ozone uptake based approach showed a high degree of fitting along a north-south European transect of pedoclimatic conditions, and represents a better and more relevant approach to the quantification of ozone effects on crops growth than the use of ozone exposure indices purely based on ozone concentrations.

Chloroplast and nuclear DNA variation in common wheat: insight into the origin and evolution of common wheat

To understand the origin and evolution of common wheat, chloroplast (ct) and nuclear DNA variations were studied in five hexaploid and three tetraploid wheat subspecies. Based on chloroplast simple sequence repeats at 24 loci, they were classified into two major plastogroups. Plastogroup I consisted of 11 plastotypes, including the major plastotype H10 that occurred at the highest frequency (59%) in common wheat. Plastogroup II consisted of five plastotypes and occurred in eight out of 27 accessions of T. aestivum ssp. spelta and one accession of ssp. aestivum. As for nuclear DNA variations, AFLP data using 10 primer sets revealed two major clades of a phylogenetic tree constructed by UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean), one consisting of common wheat and the other of emmer wheat. The clade of common wheat was further divided into two major and six minor subclades. One of the major subclades consisted only of non-free-threshing ssp. spelta accessions, which were grouped into two clusters, one consisting only of accessions with plastogroup I ctDNA and the other with both plastogroups I and II. T. aestivum ssp. macha, another non-free-threshing common wheat, formed the other cluster. Taken together, our data indicate the existence of at least two maternal lineages in common wheat and support the hypothesis that European spela wheat originated in Europe separately from other groups of common wheat.

HMW and LMW glutenin alleles among putative tetraploid and hexaploid European spelt wheat (Triticum spelta L.) progenitors.

The allelic compositions of high- and low-molecular-weight subunits of glutenins (HMW-GS and LMW-GS) among European spelt ( Triticum spelta L.) and related hexaploid and tetraploid Triticum species were investigated by one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). A total of seven novel glutenin alleles (designated A1a*, B1d*, B1g*, B1f*, B1j*, D1a* at Glu-1 and A3h at the Glu-3 loci, respectively) in European spelt wheat were detected by SDS-PAGE, which were confirmed further by employing A-PAGE and CE methods. Particularly, two HMW-GS alleles, Glu-B1d* coding the subunits 6.1 and 22.1, and Glu-B1f* coding the subunits 13 and 22*, were found to occur in European spelt with frequencies of 32.34% and 5.11%, respectively. These two alleles were present in cultivated emmer (Triticum dicoccum), but they were not observed in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The allele Glu-B1g* coding for 13* and 19* subunits found in spelt wheat was also detected in club wheat (Triticum compactum L.). Additionally, two alleles coding for LMW-GS, Glu-A3h and Glu-B3d, occurred with high frequencies in spelt, club and cultivated emmer wheat, whereas these were not found or present with very low frequencies in bread wheat. Our results strongly support the secondary origin hypothesis, namely European spelt wheat originated from hybridization between cultivated emmer and club wheat. This is also confirmed experimentally by the artificial synthesis of spelt through crossing between old European emmer wheat, T. dicoccum and club wheat, T. compactum.

Identification of Glutenin Markers in Cultivars of three Wheat Species

In a collection of 41 Slovak and European winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.), 5 spelt wheat cultivars (Triticum spelta L.) and 3 durum wheat cultivars (Triticum durum DESF.) we investigated the qualitative composition of high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), the Gluten quality (GQ) score and the presence of the secale block 1B3. The highest frequency of the HMW-GS 0, 7 + 9 and 5 + 10 was found among the winter wheat cultivars. The highest GQ score of 10 was found in the cultivars SK-30 and FD-92017/1. A GQ score of 9 was found in the cultivars Astella, Ilona, Velta and MV-06-95. The HMW-GS 0 and 7 + 8, associated with a GQ of 4, were found in T. durum. The electrophoretic spectra of the spelt wheat cultivars were not homogeneous and represented 4 different lines. &amp;nbsp;

Development of Nondestructive Screening Methods for Single Kernel Characterization of Wheat

ABSTRACTThe development of nondestructive screening methods for single seed protein, vitreousness, density, and hardness index has been studied for single kernels of European wheat. A single kernel procedure was applied involving, image analysis, near‐infrared transmittance (NIT) spectroscopy, laboratory density determination, single kernel characterization system (SKCS), and finally Kjeldahl protein determination on the crushed single kernels. Single kernel NIT spectroscopy showed excellent ability to determine protein content, and some ability for determination of single kernel vitreousness. Nondestructive determination of single kernel density, either based on NIT spectroscopy or based on image analysis and kernel weight, needs to be further improved for practical use. The use of SKCS hardness index as a true single kernel hardness reference in a NIT prediction model resulted in a poor predictability. However, by applying an averaging approach, in which single seed replicate measurements are mathematically simulated, a very good NIT prediction model was achieved. This suggests that the single seed NIT spectra contain hardness information, but that a single seed hardness method with higher accuracy is needed to achieve a good NIT prediction model for single kernel hardness.

Earliness, spike productivity and protein content in European winter wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars

European winter wheat landraces and obsolete cultivars (121 accessions in set I&amp;nbsp;and 101 accessions in set II) with modern check cultivars were evaluated in three-year field trials. Increased spike productivity in modern cultivars could be attributed mainly to increased number of grains in spikelet and increased HI, whereas TGW has marginal effect. Old cultivars had on average by 2&amp;ndash;3% higher crude protein content in grain than modern ones. Among selected 10 characters, relatively wide diversity (C.V. 11&amp;ndash;20%) has been estimated in spike length and characters of spike productivity (except of grain weight with C.V. close to 9%). It was difficult to distinguish the cultivars according to the country of origin, however, earliness and lower spike productivity seems to be characteristic for South-East origin whereas cultivars from North-West Europe showed opposite characters. Correlation analyses showed close relations between earliness in heading and in maturity and negative relation between late heading and grain filling period, which was positively correlated with TGW and&amp;nbsp;HI (r = 0.26 to 0.38). Number of grains in spikelets was highly correlated with spike productivity and HI (r = 0.62 to 0.69) whereas relations between these two characters and TGW were lower (r = 0.20 to 0.51). Spike productivity characters, except of TGW, are in negative correlation with crude protein content in grain (r = &amp;ndash;0.34 to &amp;ndash;0.50). Regression analyses confirmed that main determining character for the spike productivity is number of kernels in spikelet (about 40% of variation) while effects of TGW are about half-size. Crude protein content was positively affected by plant height (15&amp;ndash;30% of variation) impact of grain weight per spike was lower (14&amp;ndash;17% of variation) and negative. Potentially valuable donors of earliness and longer grain filling period were identified for further studies and/or utilization in breeding programs. As especially valuable character can be considered very high crude protein content (around 18% in cvs Berg-land, Ukrajinka, Sippbachzeller, Innichen Nr. 25001 and Barbu du Finistre). High crude protein content combined with relatively good spike productivity and/or long grain filling period or earliness was found in cvs Visperterminen 640 E, Hatvan, Szekacz 1242, Berchtesgardener Vogel, Ble du Lot and Barbu du Finistere.

Race structure of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis isolates obtained from wheat in South America

Knowledge of genetic variation in a pathogen population contributes to breeding for disease resistance. The fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, cause of tan spot of wheat, is an important foliar pathogen worldwide. Currently, eight races have been identified in the fungal population prevalent on wheat and alternative hosts. Races 1 through 6 have been observed in North America. However, the fungal population from South America has not been characterized as to race. In this study, 48 single-spore isolates of P. tritici-repentis, recovered from wheat, were obtained from Argentina (10), Brazil (23), and Uruguay (15). Isolates were tested by inoculating individually on 2-leaf stage seedlings of the wheat differentials Glenlea, Katepwa, ND495, 6B365, M-3, and Salamouni in the greenhouse. They were grouped into different races based on necrosis and chlorosis induction on the differentials. Isolates from Argentina were grouped into races 1 and 7; from Brazil into races 1 and 8; and, from Uruguay into races 1 and 2. Results indicate that P. tritici-repentis has a diverse population on wheat in South America. More isolates are under investigation to obtain a comprehensive virulence pattern of the pathogen population in South America. Wheat lines should be screened against all known races to achieve durable resistance in a cultivar release program. The P. tritici-repentis race structure on wheat in Europe needs to be determined, as the pathogen has become a concern for wheat breeders and pathologists.

Mapping of quantitative trait loci for field resistance to Fusarium head blight in an European winter wheat.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by Fusarium culmorum is an economically important disease of wheat that may cause serious yield and quality losses under favorable climate conditions. The development of disease-resistant cultivars is the most effective control strategy. Worldwide, there is heavy reliance on the resistance pool originating from Asian wheats, but excellent field resistance has also been observed among European winter wheats. The objective of this study was to map and characterize quantitative traits loci (QTL) of resistance to FHB among European winter wheats. A population of 194 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was genotyped from a cross between two winter wheats Renan (resistant)/Récital (susceptible) with microsatellites, AFLP and RFLP markers. RILs were assessed under field conditions For 3 years in one location. Nine QTLs were detected, and together they explained 30-45% of the variance, depending on the year. Three of the QTLs were stable over the 3 years. One stable QTL, QFhs.inra.2b, was mapped to chromosome 2B and two QTLs QFhs.inra.5a2 and QFhs.inra5a3, to chromosome 5A; each of these QTLs explained 6.9-18.6% of the variance. Other QTLs were identified on chromosome 2A, 3A, 3B, 5D, and 6D, but these had a smaller effect on FHB resistance. One of the two QTLs on chromosome 5A was linked to gene B1 controlling the presence of awns. Overlapping QTLs for FHB resistance were those for plant height or/and flowering time. Our results confirm that wheat chromosomes 2A, 3A, 3B, and 5A carry FHB resistance genes, and new resistance factors were identified on chromosome arms 2BS and 5AL. Markers flanking these QTLs should be useful tools for combining the resistance to FHB of Asian and European wheats to increase the resistance level of cultivars.