Location: Plant Science Research
Project Number: 6070-22000-019-021-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2024
End Date: Jun 30, 2027
Objective:
To improve resistance of winter wheat germplasm adapted to the eastern United States to the Hessian fly pest that is an increasing threat to wheat production. Research in the parent project relies heavily on use of molecular markers to track resistance genes in wheat. Genotyping and field screening of breeding program germplasm is essential to increasing the overall level of resistance to Hessian fly in SRWW germplasm and to improving marker resources to select for resistance.
By establishing research with Cooperator to conduct field screening, we can increase the likelihood of obtaining useful data after infestation with natural pest populations. We aim to improve host resistance in areas where warmer winters are conducive to multiple HF life cycles, which leads to greater crop damage and the development of increasingly virulent HF populations.
In this project, screening of diverse breeding program material in a field nursery will be coupled with genotyping to make genomic predictions and identify major genes available to inform breeding program decisions.
Specific objectives include:
(1) Produce information on level of cultivar resistance to guide grower decisions;
(2) Combine genotyping and field screening efforts to improve HF resistance of breeding program;
(3) Identify further sources of resistance for selection efforts;
(4) Incorporate the new genomic and phenomic resources into the development of improved high-throughput approaches used for selection in breeding populations.
Approach:
ARS researchers at Raleigh, NC and cooperator have complementary strengths that will enable achievement of objectives 1-4.
Obj. 1. Wheat cultivars and elite breeding lines will be evaluated in a recurring Hessian fly screening nursery, in a field infested with Hessian fly to ensure attack. An alpha lattice field design will be used to evaluate replicated plots for the following advanced nurseries: Uniform Southern Soft Red Winter Wheat (USSRWWN), Uniform Bread Wheat (UBWT), Gulf Atlantic Wheat Nursery (GAWN), SunGrains Advanced Wheat (SunWheat), and statewide wheat and barley Official Variety Trials (OVTs). Individual plots will consist of four adjacent headrows that will be 1 meter length by 1.5 meter width, which has been found to be sufficient for Hessian fly field ratings and downstream destructive phenotyping (% infested tillers and number of pupae per tiller). Screening results will be shared with ARS PI, other wheat breeders and extension personnel as appropriate.
Obj. 2. Breeding material, including parents for crossing and segregating progeny, will be evaluated as described above. Phenotypic and DNA marker data will be used to select high-yielding lines having HF resistance.
Obj. 3. HF-resistant lines will be used in crossing, and the resulting segregating populations will be subjected to marker-assisted and genomic selection for development of improved, HF-resistant cultivars.
