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Progress Report ‘Ulen’ Released, Two Promising Wheat Lines Under Seed Increase Coordinated by wheat breeder James Anderson, the objectives of accelerated breeding of disease-tolerant wheat at the U of M are to: 1) Develop high yielding, hard red spring wheat germplasm and varieties with improved resistance to FHB, other diseases, and acceptable agronomic and end-use characteristics. Funding from the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council and the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative also contribute to this objective. 2) Investigate and implement marker-assisted selection for Fusarium head blight resistance as a complement to field-based selection. One experimental line, MN97803-A, was released in January 2005 as ‘Ulen’. This line is similar to HJ98, but has higher grain protein and test weight. Ulen is resistant to leaf rust and has moderate resistance to FHB. Two additional lines, MN99436-6 and MN95229-A, are under seed increase in California during the winter of 2004/2005 and both lines will be candidates for release within the next year. Both lines have high grain yield, good grain quality, resistance to leaf rust and moderate resistance to FHB. Anderson says the project continues to identify lines with high levels of FHB resistance. Unfortunately, these lines lack the grain yield, quality, and/or straw strength to be considered for release as varieties. However, he notes that the agronomic characteristics of highly resistant lines improve each year. The best of these FHB resistant materials are entered in a regional scab nursery, which gives other breeders in the region the opportunity to test and use them as parents in crossing. The U of M program also has access to lines that other breeders enter into this nursery. FHB nurseries at Crookston, Morris, and St. Paul are inoculated and misted to provide high levels of FHB to analyze wheat lines, and involve collaboration with agronomists at Crookston and Morris, and personnel from the Plant Pathology Department (Table 1). More than 1,600 wheat lines were characterized for their FHB resistance in these field nurseries in 2004. Data on FHB severity (spread of disease symptoms within the spike) was collected for all materials. At least 50 spikes of grain were harvested from all nurseries for vomitoxin and/or visual scabby kernel (VSK) assessment. FHB resistance ratings of named varieties are reported each year in various publications, including Prairie Grains, Minnesota Varietal Trials Results, grower meetings and field days. Beginning in 2004, Anderson’s project has placed more emphasis on field-based screening for FHB resistance and less emphasis on greenhouse-based screening. “We are able to screen many more lines in the field compared to the greenhouse, and this is a better use of personnel resources,” he says. Anderson’s program also continues to use marker-assisted selection for one gene that provides enhanced levels of FHB resistance. A total of 356 F6 selections and parents of the 2004 F4’s were screened for presence of this gene during the summer of 2004. This information helps select lines with potential for high FHB resistance and is also useful when choosing parents for later crosses. Table 1. 2004 Wheat Breeding Project Field FHB Screening Nurseries
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