U of M Wheat Geneticist Helps Identify Promising Genes

As a wheat geneticist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in St. Paul, David Garvin works in cooperation with U of M crop scientists, focusing in large part on genetic and molecular aspects of FHB resistance in wheat. He evaluates the type, number and location of genes that code for desirable and undesirable genes that exist within different wheat lines. This information can then assist wheat breeders, including the U of M’s Jim Anderson, to develop new wheat varieties that possess desirable characteristics, without undesirable ones.

Garvin also coordinates the uniform regional scab nursery for spring wheat, begun in 1995 by USDA-ARS wheat geneticist Bob Busch, who is now retired.   The nursery, supported in part by the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, includes six different evaluation sites in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Canada. About 40 wheat lines are evaluated each year, including hard red spring wheat, durum, and plant introductions from both public and private breeding programs. 

The benefits of the uniform regional nursery are two-fold, says Garvin: The coordinated sites provide a vehicle for obtaining multi-site scab resistance data, which is important given the large effect of environment on scab development and severity.  Secondly, the program provides a means of germplasm exchange among wheat breeding programs in the region. An additional benefit is that the coordinated effort provides a record of progress in enhancing scab resistance in wheat germplasm over time.