Abstract
Tremendous progress has been made in variety development and host plant resistance to mitigate the impact of Fusarium head blight (FHB) since the disease manifested in the southeastern United States in the early 2000s. Much of this improvement was made possible through the establishment of and recurring support from the US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI). Since its inception in 1997, the USWBSI has enabled land-grant institutions to make advances in reducing the annual threat of devastating FHB epidemics. A coordinated field phenotyping effort for annual germplasm screening has become a staple tool for selection in public and private soft red winter wheat (SRWW) breeding programmes. Dedicated efforts of many SRWW breeders to identify and utilize resistance genes from both native and exotic sources provided a strong foundation for improvement. In recent years, implementation of genomics-enabled breeding has further accelerated genetic gains in FHB resistance. This article reflects on the improvement of FHB resistance in southern SRWW and contextualizes the monumental progress made by collaborative, persistent, and good old-fashioned cultivar development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 66-81 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Plant Breeding |
| Volume | 143 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Authors. Plant Breeding published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Funding
Many wheat scientists and support teams, too many to name here, have contributed over the past 2+ decades that have led to the progress in FHB resistance in southern SRWW. It was a truly collective effort from land‐grant institutions, private industry companies, and the USDA‐ARS throughout this period. While this type of collaboration is seldom found in modern day academia, the collaboration remains active and prosperous. None of the accomplishments and progress detailed in this review would have been remotely possible without the consistent support from the US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI). There are too many individual and cooperative research projects directly funded by the USWBSI to recognize in this section, but the authors acknowledge, with gratitude, the immense support received through the USWBSI Variety Development and Host Resistance Southern Winter Wheat Coordinated Project (VDHR‐SWW CP). Many wheat scientists and support teams, too many to name here, have contributed over the past 2+ decades that have led to the progress in FHB resistance in southern SRWW. It was a truly collective effort from land-grant institutions, private industry companies, and the USDA-ARS throughout this period. While this type of collaboration is seldom found in modern day academia, the collaboration remains active and prosperous. None of the accomplishments and progress detailed in this review would have been remotely possible without the consistent support from the US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI). There are too many individual and cooperative research projects directly funded by the USWBSI to recognize in this section, but the authors acknowledge, with gratitude, the immense support received through the USWBSI Variety Development and Host Resistance Southern Winter Wheat Coordinated Project (VDHR-SWW CP).
| Funders |
|---|
| US Wheat & Barley Scab Initiative |
| USWBSI |
| USDA-Agricultural Research Service |
Keywords
- Fusarium
- breeding
- genomics
- prediction
- resistance
- wheat
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Genetics
- Plant Science