Australia
July 1, 2013
A new five-year cereal research project kicks off this month, aimed at boosting the resistance of durum wheat to the damaging pathogen, crown rot.
Dr Anke Martin, University of Southern Queensland (USQ) research fellow (genetic solutions for cereal diseases) says durum wheat is very susceptible to crown rot and varieties with significant resistance have not been identified.
“Crown rot in winter cereals is predominantly caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum and is recognised as a major disease constraint in many cereal growing regions in Australia,” Dr Martin said.
“This project aims to improve the crown rot resistance in durum wheats by crossing them with hexaploid and wild tetraploid wheats which carry good levels of crown rot resistance.”
The USQ-led project has received funding support from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and brings together a team that includes researchers from NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Queensland (DAFFQ) and South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI).
Dr Martin says the project builds on the successful identification of improved resistance in bread wheats in previous GRDC-funded projects including USQ/NSWDPI collaboration.
“Two recently completed projects aimed to improve the resistance of the highly susceptible durum wheats to crown rot by crossing them to hexaploid lines partially resistant to the disease.
“Crosses to three elite durum breeding lines including EGA Bellaroi were advanced and stable resistance identified over several generations in multiple families within these crosses.
“In particular, seven durum families have been identified which consistently show low crown rot scores.”
The effectiveness of using molecular markers for routine screening of these sources of crown rot resistance in a durum background will be tested, by applying both marker screening and visual phenotyping to these populations.
Dr Martin says SARDI and DAFFQ have also crossed durums with a number of different crown rot resistant sources and the new project will further investigate progeny from these crosses.
“Previously developed hexaploid/durum lines as well as newly developed crosses will be used in the new project to improve crown resistance in commercial durum varieties.
“Such development of varieties with improved crown resistance is pivotal to the expansion of the Australian durum industry.”
For more information on GRDC-funded research, visit www.grdc.com.au.
Species
