Phenotyping fusarium head blight for genetic enhancement of wheat

Project Description

The overall objectives of this project are to:

• enhance FHB phenotyping capacity for spring and winter wheat breeders and geneticists by testing up to 5000 spring wheat lines;
• generate individual plot data for Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) and DON for variety registration trials, post registration trials, and University of Manitoba winter wheat populations; and
• generate phenotypic data for ongoing genetic studies being conducted by collaborators.

The enhanced capacity of this nursery will speed up the rate of cultivar development by identifying resistant genotypes earlier and shortening the breeding cycle, and by assisting in development and validation of genetic and genomics tools for application in breeding programs. Due to the specialized nature of FHB phenotyping, all researchers will benefit from the efficiencies of evaluating genetic materials under uniform conditions provided by the University of Manitoba infrastructure that was designed specifically for phenotyping disease resistance.  Development of FHB resistant cultivars will protect the wheat industry from losses to this disease, ensure continued competitiveness of Canadian wheat in international markets, and ensure that Canadian wheat is a healthy and safe product for use as food and feed worldwide.  Finally, this nursery will provide training for undergraduate students that will contribute to Canada’s human resource and ensure that we remain competitive in wheat research worldwide.

Research Results

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is the number one priority disease of wheat in Canada. It threatens all wheat growing areas by reducing crop yield, compromising end-use quality, and affecting food and feed safety through accumulation of mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON) in the grain. Fusarium graminearum is the primary causal agent of FHB in Canada. The incidence of F. graminearum in grain has increased across western Canada, especially over the last seven years, and poses a threat to the entire wheat value chain. Management of FHB requires use of multiple strategies, as no single method provides complete control of FHB. Use of resistant cultivars is a critical component of an integrated FHB management system. In order to continue to make progress in breeding for FHB resistance and build on the momentum that has been generated, it is critical to provide increased capacity for FHB phenotyping.

Breeding lines from all spring, durum and winter wheat breeders in western Canada were evaluated for FHB incidence, severity and index in inoculated field nurseries in Carman and Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2019 and 2020. These lines were also evaluated for Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) and dexonynivalenol (DON) content. A series of checks with known reactions to FHB were used to compare the reactions of test lines and ensure that disease pressure in the nursery was adequate to detect differences. During this project term, a total of 22,039 and 20,863 plots were evaluated for FHB reaction in the field in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In both years, harvested samples were tested for FDK and DON content data.

Overall, levels of disease in the spring and durum wheat nursery were high and good separation of the checks showed that the nursery was able to detect differences in resistance to FHB among the lines tested in both years of testing. Disease levels in the winter cereals nurseries varied more between location and year due to varying field conditions at the time of inoculation. However, differentiation between field reactions was possible. In general, the nurseries were very successful and provided breeders and researchers with valuable data to advance breeding for resistance to FHB.