Improvement of resistance of wheat cultivars to fusarium head blight in the Yellow–Huai rivers valley winter wheat zone with functional marker selection of Fhb1 gene

Authors: ZHANG, HONG-JUN - University Of Nebraska; SU, ZHEN-QI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; Bai, Guihua; ZHANG, XU - Jiangsu Academy Agricultural Sciences; MA, HONG-XIANG - Jiangsu Academy Agricultural Sciences; LI, TENG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; DENG, YUN - Fujian Academy; MAI, CHUN-YAN - Henan Institute Of Science And Technology; YU, LI-QIANG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; LIU, HONG-WEI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Acta Agronomica Sinica
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/8/2018
Publication Date: 1/29/2018
Citation: Zhang, H., Su, Z., Bai, G., Zhang, X., Ma, H., Li, T., Deng, Y., Mai, C., Yu, L., Liu, H. 2018. Improvement of resistance of wheat cultivars to fusarium head blight in the Yellow–Huai rivers valley winter wheat zone with functional marker selection of Fhb1 gene. Acta Agronomica Sinica. 44(4):505-511. https//doi:10.3724/SP.J.1006.2018.00505.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1006.2018.00505

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is becoming a major wheat disease in the Yellow–Huai Rivers Valley Winter Wheat Zone of China. To transfer the major FHB resistance gene, Fhb1, to a locally adapted cultivar, six moderately or highly resistant wheat cultivars from southern China were used as Fhb1 gene donors. These were backcrossed to the adapted parent, Zhoumai 16. Progeny were selected using a new functional Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) marker for Fhb1. The marker-selected progenies were tested for FHB resistance in a field nursery. The mean number of infected spikelets and disease index of the selected Fhb1 progenies were 8.1 and 28.4 lower than those of Zhoumai 16, indicating successful transfer of resistance. Among the six donors, the progenies from Shengxuan 6 had the lowest number of diseased spikelets and disease index. Using the functional Fhb1 marker, the Fhb1 gene can be effectively integrated into wheat cultivars grown in the Yellow–Huai Rivers Valley Winter Wheat Zone.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) becomes a major disease in the wheat production of the Yellow–Huai Rivers Valley Winter Wheat Zone of China. Improving FHB resistance is one of the major breeding targets in this region. The donors of Fhb1 gene, including Ningmai 9, Shengxuan 6, Jianyang 798, Jianyang 84, Sumai 3, and Ningmai 13, were moderately or highly resistant to FHB. Six backcrossing populations were developed by crossing these donors with a dwarfing and male-sterile wheat near isogenic line Zhoumai 16, and backcrossing with Zhoumai 16. The progenies were subjected to phenotypic evaluation of FHB by both the floret-inoculation method and natural infection in a field disease nursery. Fhb1 was detected by a functional Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) marker. The backcrossing progenies with Fhb1 gene were moderately susceptible to FHB. Compared with the backcrossing progenies without Fhb1 gene, mean number of diseased spikelets and disease index reduced by 4.2 (P < 0.01) and 4.0 in the progenies with Fhb1 gene, respectively. The mean number of diseased spikelets and disease index for the back- crossing progenies with Fhb1 gene were 8.1 (P < 0.01) and 28.4 (P < 0.01) lower than those of the recurrent parent Zhoumai 16. There were significant differences in resistance among the backcrossing progenies from different donors. The progenies from Shengxuan 6 had better performance in number of diseased spikelets and disease index compared with those from any other donors. The results from this study indicate that Fhb1 gene can efficiently improve the FHB resistance of wheat cultivars grown in the Yellow–Huai Rivers Valley Winter Wheat Zone.