Location: Sunflower Improvement Research
Project Number: 3060-21220-034-033-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2024
End Date: Dec 31, 2025
Objective:
This proposal aims to develop chickpea varieties, suited to cultivation the Northwestern US, with resistance to Sclerotinia white mold caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Investigators will characterize the genetic basis of host resistance and employ genomics-enabled backcross introgression to construct novel cultivated forms for field testing. These goals will be achieved using the following objectives: 1) screen wild x cultivated RILs for resistance to Sclerotinia. 2) identify genetic loci for Sclerotinia disease resistance, and 3) initiate genome-guided breeding.
Approach:
This project leverages significant prior and ongoing work to use wild Cicer germplasm and genomic resources for genetics and breeding in chickpea. In objective 1, precise and replicated phenotyping will be used to accurately characterize disease resistance in a panel of segregating recombinant inbred lines derived from crossing wild x cultivated species. Initial screens will involve small sets of 30 F4:F5 progeny from each of twenty biparental lineages. The most promising RIL populations will then be subject to deeper screens, which will provide power for genetic analysis in objective 2.
In objective 2, high density SNP genotyping data and statistical genetic analyses will identify genetic factors control disease interactions, including molecular markers linked to Sclerotinia resistance. Multi-QTL analysis will be conducted with the combined phenotype and genotype data. The results of QTL analysis can suggest molecular markers to mine untested germplasm for potential sources of resistance, which would further trait discovery pending the availability of time and financial resources. In objective 3, molecular marker data will be used to drive the introgression of wild alleles for disease resistance into select cultivated backgrounds. Genotypes that are the outcome of trait introgression will be subject to detailed analyses to understand performance against the pathogen under field conditions. Ultimately, these materials may serve as new crop varieties and will provide genetic materials for further breeding into additional elite backgrounds.
