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Evaluation of Wheat Germplasm for Morphological and Molecular Resistance to Powdery Mildew
Abstract
Powdery mildew, a devastating wheat foliar disease caused by fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), causes global wheat yield losses in cool and humid environments. The current study aimed to characterize ninety-eight Pakistani wheat landraces along with two check cultivars for yield potential and to unravel their potential for resistance against wheat powdery mildew. Wheat was sown in Randomized Complete Block (RCB) Design at Hazara University, Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 wheat growing seasons. The study utilized STATISTIX 8.1 for statistical analysis of powdery mildew resistance and significant agronomic traits. The data revealed that 56 out of 98 landraces and check variety NARC-2009 were susceptible while 42 wheat landraces and check variety SH-2002 showed moderate to high level resistance to powdery mildew. Three promising wheat landraces with high powdery mildew resistance, short height, good seed length and high 1000 KW (thousand kernel weight) identified in this study were acc.#11126, acc.#11212 and acc.#11392. Weak but highly significant negative correlation (r = -0.159***) of powdery mildew with thousand grain weight might suggest a probable trade-off where higher powdery mildew levels are associated with a reduction in 1000 KW. Molecular markers analysis confirmed the presence of Pm1, Pm2, Pm3, Pm4 and Pm8 in different PM-resistant wheat landraces. Based on the molecular marker analysis of 100 wheat experimental panel, the most abundant gene possessed by landraces was Pm3 (23%), followed by Pm2 (10%), Pm1 (8%), Pm4 (4%) and Pm8 (1%). Only three wheat landraces, namely, acc.#11126, acc.#11212 and acc.#11392, simultaneously possessed two PM resistance genes. The three promising candidate wheat landraces identified in this study could be potential breeding materials for developing powdery resistant wheat varieties for Pakistan's cool and humid environments with high prevalence of powdery mildew.
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DOI: 10.33687/phytopath.015.02.6221
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