Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Genetics of Resistance
325-P
Accelerating the pace of developing FHB resistant two-row malting barley: genomic selection approach
D. FERNANDO (1), J. Tucker (2), A. Badea (2), W. Legge (2) (1) University of Manitoba, Canada; (2) Brandon Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada
Fusarium head blight (FHB) incited by Fusarium graminearum is a major disease of barley (Hordeum vulgare) in Canada, which significantly impacts seed quality through production of mycotoxins in the grain. While breeding efforts have been ongoing at the Agriculture and Agri-Food, Brandon Research and Development Centre for a couple decades, progress has been limited by requirements for labour-intensive screening nurseries and quantitative based resistance. With advent of affordable genomic tools, breeding for crop characters that are difficult to measure and/or display low heritability are suitable for development through application of genomic selection techniques. A large population of 400 two-row barley lines has been assembled based on diverse reaction to FHB. This collection has been phenotyped in 2014 and 2015 at three locations in Manitoba (Brandon, Carberry, and Carman), and deoxynivalenol content in matured grains was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This data will be used in combination with genomic information to make predictions of genomic estimated breeding values. Genomic markers will be validated in breeding populations segregating for FHB resistance.