Anther extrusion and plant height are associated with Type I resistance to Fusarium head blight in bread wheat line ‘Shanghai-3/Catbird’

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive wheat disease of global importance. Resistance breeding depends heavily on the Fhb1 gene. The CIMMYT line Shanghai-3/Catbird (SHA3/CBRD) is a promising source without this gene. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population from the cross of SHA3/CBRD with the German spring wheat cv. Naxos was evaluated for FHB resistance and related traits in field trials using spray and spawn inoculation in Norway and point inoculation in China. After spray and spawn inoculation, FHB severities were negatively correlated with both anther extrusion (AE) and plant height (PH). The QTL analysis showed that the Rht-B1b dwarfing allele co-localized with a QTL for low AE and increased susceptibility after spawn and spray inoculation. In general, SHA3/CBRD contributed most of the favorable alleles for resistance to severity after spray and spawn inoculation, while Naxos contributed more favorable alleles for reduction in FDK and DON content and resistance to severity after point inoculation. SHA3/CBRD contributed a major resistance QTL close to the centromere on 2DLc affecting FHB severity and DON after all inoculation methods. This QTL was also associated with AE and PH, with high AE and tall alleles contributed by SHA3/CBRD. Several QTL for AE and PH were detected, and low AE or reduced PH was always associated with increased susceptibility after spawn and spray inoculation. Most of the other minor FHB resistance QTL from SHA3/CBRD were associated with AE or PH, while the QTL from Naxos were mostly not. After point inoculation, no other QTL for FHB traits was associated with AE or PH, except the 2DLc QTL which was common across all inoculation methods. Marker-assisted selection based on the 2DLc QTL from SHA3/CBRD combined with phenotypic selection for AE is recommended for resistance breeding based on this valuable source of resistance.

Breeding strategies and advances in line selection for Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat

“…plant pathol. (2017) 42:165-174height was also found by Lu et al (2013). In that study, QTL common for both traits were associated with FHB resistance and interestingly one of the loci was Rht-B1.…”

“…In addition, anthers and pollen partially trapped within the spikelet stimulate fungal growth and disease establishment compared to lines with rapid and complete anther extrusion. This relationship has been found and commented almost 100 years ago (Dickson et al 1921;Pugh et al 1933) and resurged recently as a focus of several research groups (Skinnes et al 2008(Skinnes et al , 2010Graham and Browne 2009;Kubo et al 2013;Lu et al 2013;He et al 2014;Buerstmayr 2015, 2016). Molecular-genetic analysis revealed a quantitative nature of anther retention/extrusion and detected the genetic basis for the phenotypic correlations with FHB traits.…”

“…Molecular-genetic analysis revealed a quantitative nature of anther retention/extrusion and detected the genetic basis for the phenotypic correlations with FHB traits. In the moderately resistant Swiss cultivar Arina two resistance QTL coincidence with QTL for anther extrusion and in a cross of the CIMMYT line SHA3/CBRD by the German variety Naxos all five QTL for anther extrusion overlapped with QTL for FHB resistance (Lu et al 2013). The association of anther extrusion and FHB resistance was not just found in specific mapping populations but also in current wheat breeding material from Austria and France (Steiner et al unpublished).…”

Evaluation of Canadian barley breeding lines for Fusarium head blight resistance

“…for genotype-by-year interaction, s 2 e for error variance, y for the number of years, and r for the number of replications (Lu et al 2013). In order to facilitate the identification of stably resistant lines, a composite index was calculated through the sixth root of the product of FHB index, FDK, and DON content in both 2013 and 2014.…”

Comparison of Fusarium head blight resistance in cytoplasmic male sterile, maintainer and restorer lines in winter wheat

“…In other studies, some wheat genotypes with high levels of anther extrusion tended to develop less FHB and had lower levels of DON (Skinnes et al 2010). Liu et al (2013) found that anther extrusion and plant height were negatively correlated with FHB severity. In summary, many researchers have reported that anthers play a critical role in FHB infection, but other research indicated there are other infection pathways including glumes (Tu 1930;cited in Kang and Buchenauer 2000), spikelets or rachis (Schroeder 1955;cited in Kang and Buchenauer 2000).…”