Project Number: 5440-21000-031-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jul 01, 2010
End Date: Jun 30, 2015

Objective:
The main objective of this project is to develop wheat germplasm with genes for resistance to stem rust race Ug99 and currently encountered races of wheat stem rust. Attention will focus on the introduction of new genes to Great Plains adapted wheats, and pyramiding these genes with genes for resistance to additional pathogens.

Approach:
The USDA-ARS Grain, Forages and Biofuels Research Unit at Lincoln, NE, is developing Great Plains adapted winter wheat germplasm with resistance to Ug99 and other races of stem rust. Stem rust resistance is being pyramided with genes conferring resistance to additional pathogens, including leaf and stripe rusts, and wheat streak mosaic and soilborne mosaic viruses. The Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska will identify breeding lines carrying stem rust resistance. Newly developed wheat breeding lines (F5 or F6 generations) derived from crosses with resistant donor parents will be assayed for stem rust resistance at the seedling stage via inoculations in the greenhouse, and for adult plant resistance, after inoculation at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead, NE.