Wheat Research

A strategy to improve wheat yield and quality through integrated management of fusarium head blight
Dr. Lily Tamburic-Ilincic and Dr. Art Schaafsma, University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus

The fungal pathogen Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) causes huge economic losses to winter wheat and other cereal crops in Canada and around the world. Losses come in the form of yield reductions and in the form of grain contaminated by fungus toxins, also called mycotoxins. The most important of these toxins, deoxynivalenol (DON), is a threat to human and animal health and is regulated in the food and feed industry.

Breeding for resistance to this disease is the most desirable solution, but the genetics of resistance are very complicated and difficult to manipulate. There are no known, single effective resistance genes to fusarium, requiring the use of multiple genes. The Ridgetown Campus developed the breeding line named RCATL33, with combined FHB resistance and reduced DON accumulation derived from Sumai 3 and Frontana. The germplasm was successfully developed using a combination of conventional and molecular breeding. However, RCATL33 is lacking in high yield potential, so can not be registered as a cultivar in Ontario.

Better understanding of the influence of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with pyramided sources of FHB resistance on quality and yield of winter wheat will be gained through this project. Ultimately the goal is to provide Canadian winter wheat producers with germplasm or varieties that are resistant to FHB, while being globally competitive in yield and quality.

Through collaboration with breeding organization in Ontario and the rest of Canada, new genetic material and cultivars will be developed into varieties that are adapted to Ontario’s unique growing conditions to allow Ontario farmers to directly benefit from this research.

The current project is also well aligned with international efforts. In 2006, German-Canadian collaboration was established to create a joint effort in wheat FHB research through a project named “Reducing the content on Fusarium toxins in wheat”. The partners in the Canadian effort include Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), University of Manitoba and University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus, and we have a common workplan that avoids redundancy and shares results. Three of the seven winter wheat lines most resistant to FHB, evaluated in Canada and Germany, were selections from the breeding program at Ridgetown, and two evaluated lines from our program were more resistant than RCATL33. The scientific discoveries anticipated from this project will be directly applicable to developing varieties of winter and spring wheat for growing regions outside of Ontario.