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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Frederick, Maryland » Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418579
Research Project: Integrative Genomic and Biological Approaches to Detect and Manage Emerging Foreign Fungal Plant Pathogens

Location: Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research

Title: Evaluation of wheat blast resistance in the USDA hard winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Northern and Southern Regional Performance Nurseries

Author
item Pedley, Kerry
item Boehm Jr, Jeffrey
item Bai, Guihua
item St Amand, Paul
item Peterson, Gary
item Vinyard, Bryan

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/11/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-24-1941-RE

Interpretive Summary: Wheat blast is an emerging disease that threatens the global supply of wheat. The disease originated in South America and has recently been detected in Asia and Africa. To prepare for a possible introduction into the United States, advanced hard winter wheat entries of the USDA-coordinated Northern and Southern Regional Performance Nurseries of the U.S. Great Plains were evaluated for resistance against the disease. All potentially resistant entries in both nurseries carry a chromosomal region called the 2NS region that was obtained from a wild wheat relative. This region has previously been associated with wheat blast resistance. No potentially new sources of resistance were evident in the nurseries tested, which highlights the need for the continued use of the 2NS region in donor lines in U.S. wheat breeding programs.

Technical Abstract: Wheat blast, caused by the Triticum pathotype of Pyricularia oryzae, is an emerging disease that threatens the global supply of wheat. The pathogen was first reported in Brazil and subsequently spread to the neighboring countries of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. More recently, wheat blast was reported in Asia and Africa, having been observed in Bangladesh and Zambia. The transcontinental spread of the pathogen has heightened awareness of the disease and has underscored the need to prepare for potential introductions into major wheat production regions. To this end, we have conducted greenhouse evaluations of the 2017 – 2020 hard winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) entries of the USDA-coordinated Northern and Southern Regional Performance Nurseries (NRPN and SRPN, respectively) of the U.S. Great Plains using an aggressive isolate of the pathogen, B-71, collected in Bolivia in 2012. Based on molecular marker analysis, all potentially resistant entries in both the NRPN and SRPN were in possession of the distal chromosomal translocation of 2NS from Aegilops ventricosa, which has previously been associated with wheat blast resistance. No potentially new sources of resistance were evident in the 2017 – 2020 regional performance nurseries, which highlights the need for the continued use of 2NS donor lines in Great Plains wheat breeding programs.