Genetic Variation in Common Bunt Resistance in Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat

Amira M I Mourad; Alexey Morgounov; P Stephen Baenziger; Samar M Esmail

doi:10.3390/plants12010002

Genetic Variation in Common Bunt Resistance in Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat

Plants (Basel). 2022 Dec 20;12(1):2. doi: 10.3390/plants12010002.

Authors

Amira M I Mourad^{1

2}, Alexey Morgounov³, P Stephen Baenziger⁴, Samar M Esmail⁵

Affiliations

¹ Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), 06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
² Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Asyut 71526, Egypt.
³ International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), P.K. 39 Emek, 06511 Ankara, Turkey.
⁴ Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Plant Science Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA.
⁵ Wheat Disease Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt.

Abstract

Common bunt (caused by Tilletia caries and T. Foetida) is a major wheat disease. It occurs frequently in the USA and Turkey and damages grain yield and quality. Seed treatment with fungicides is an effective method to control this disease. However, using fungicides in organic and low-income fields is forbidden, and planting resistant cultivars are preferred. Due to the highly effective use of fungicides, little effort has been put into breeding resistant genotypes. In addition, the genetic diversity for this trait is low in modern wheat germplasm. Synthetic wheat genotypes were reported as an effective source to increase the diversity in wheat germplasm. Therefore, a set of 25 synthetics that are resistant to the Turkish common bunt race were evaluated against the Nebraska common bunt race. Four genotypes were found to be very resistant to Nebraska's common bunt race. Using differential lines, four isolines carrying genes, Bt10, Bt11, Bt12, and Btp, were found to provide resistance against both Turkish and Nebraska common bunt races. Genotypes carrying any or all of these four genes could be used as a source of resistance in both countries. No correlation was found between common bunt resistance and some agronomic traits, which suggests that common bunt resistance is an independent trait.

Keywords: T. Foetida; Tilletia caries; correlation; differential lines; seedling vigor.

Grants and funding

This work was partially funded by the cultural affairs and mission sector, the Egyptian Government. Costs for open access publishing were partially funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, grant 491250510).