Monday, November 5, 2007
60-9
Resistance to Kernel Damage Caused by Fusarium Head Blight in an RIL Population.
C.M. Bonin and F.L. Kolb. University of Illinois, Department of Crop Sciences, 1102 S. Goodwin, Urbana, IL 61801
Fusarium head blight (FHB) infection of wheat results in fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) that contain the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), reducing the value of the grain. Wheat lines that exhibit FHB head symptoms but produce sound kernels with low DON levels may possess resistance to kernel damage and are therefore valuable to study. A population of 269 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed from a cross between two soft red winter wheat lines, IL94-1653 and Patton. IL94-1653 is thought to exhibit resistance to kernel damage, and Patton has normal susceptibility to kernel damage. The population was evaluated for disease severity and kernel quality in a greenhouse experiment in 2005 and 2006, and in a field FHB nursery in 2006 and 2007. The RIL population exhibited a wide range of FHB symptoms and kernel damage in the greenhouse and field in both years. In the greenhouse, the mean severity at 21 dai was 84% in 2005 and 69% in 2006, with a range of 0% to 100% in both years. The average kernel quality in the greenhouse was 6.49 in 2005 and 6.38 in 2006, with a range in both years from 0 to 9, where 0 is all healthy kernels and 9 is all FDK. In the field study, the RIL population had an average severity of 59.5% (range 12% to 100%) and percent FDK of 37.5% (range 1% to 95%) in 2006 and an average severity of 35.3% (range 5.9% to 94.1%) and percent FDK of 26.4% (range 5% to 80%) in 2007. Molecular analysis using this RIL population to identify SSR markers associated with FHB resistance and resistance to kernel damage is currently in progress.