Novel QTL associated with the Fusarium head blight resistance in Truman soft red winter wheat

Fusarium head blight (FHB) mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe causes devastating losses in wheat globally. ‘Truman’ winter wheat, developed and released by the University of Missouri has excellent broad-based FHB resistance in a superior soft red winter wheat background. This research identified QTL associated with greenhouse type II resistance and field resistance for incidence, severity, Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK), and deoxynivalenol (DON) based on phenotypic data collected in Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. Two years of replicated phenotypic data were collected on a set of 167 recombinant inbred lines. Genetic linkage maps were constructed using 160 SSR and 530 DArT polymorphic markers. Across years, QTL for type II resistance were identified on chromosomes 1BSc, 2BL, 2DS and 3BSc, for incidence on 2ASc, 2DS, and 3DS and for severity on 2DS and 3BSc. QTL were also detected for incidence on 1DLc and 2DS and for severity on 1BL, 3AL and 3BLC from data collected in Indiana and Kentucky, respectively. Common QTL for FDK on chromosomes 2ASc and 3BLc and for DON on chromosomes 2ASc and 2DS were identified from data from both Missouri and Kentucky, respectively with additional individual QTL for FDK and DON identified from tests at each independent location. All alleles were from Truman and associated with significant reductions in the respective traits. QTL on 2ASC, 2DS and 3DS may be novel and once further validated, should diversify the FHB gene pool globally and be useful for enhancing FHB resistance through marker assisted selection.