PHENOMICS AND GENOMICS TO ENHANCE WHEAT DISEASE RESISTANCE IN THE GREAT PLAINS

Goals:This project focuses on plant breeding discovery and research and is crucial to wheat cultivar development in the US Great Plains and globally to counter the most damaging wheat diseases. This project is expected to provide sources of resistance/susceptibility to leaf rust, stripe rust, and Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) in contemporary US hard winter wheat, which will benefit plant breeders and growers. We will also dissect the genetic basis of rust resistance and SNB susceptibility and develop molecular markers for use in marker assisted selection (MAS) to facilitate the transfer of resistance sources to future cultivars. Since the used genotypes in this project are from a public breeding program, the knowledge gained will be directly translated into wheat genetic improvement in the U.S and globally. We will mobilize technologies to develop a high throughput phenotyping system for large scale-field selection for barley yellow dwarf resistance. This will speed the development of resistant germplasm to a common vial disease in Oklahoma and the Great Plains. Furthermore, we will identify the occurrence, distribution, and diversity of viruses infecting wheat in Oklahoma fields and develop novel and rapid method for detection and diagnosis of wheat viruses. This should enhance our understanding of regional distributions and prevalence of wheat viruses in Oklahoma and consequently promote informed breeding decisions. Findings from this project will be used to educate and train wheat growers, county educators, and students on wheat disease diagnosis and effective management strategies.Objectives1. Characterize wheat genetic resources for resistance/susceptibility to leaf rust, stripe rust, and Septoria nodorum blotch.2. Develop high-throughput phenotyping system for large-scale selection of barley yellow dwarf resistance in wheat breeding programs.3. Identify the occurrence and diversity of viruses infecting wheat in Oklahoma using E-probe Diagnostic Nucleic Acid Analysis (EDNA).4. Broder impacts: educate and train growers, county educators, and students on wheat disease diagnosis and effective management strategies.