By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
A team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists is working to aid winter wheat against three common pests.
The group, led by AgriLife Research wheat geneticist Dr. Shuyu Liu, is currently developing a hard winter wheat germplasm with resistance to several pests—wheat curl mite, green bug and Hessian fly.
“Currently, TAM 204 is the only commercial cultivar with this level of resistance,” Liu said. “It is critical we continue to diversify and find different sources of resistance to these pests.”
Using the genetic makeup of a wild wheat relative, the scientists hope to create a line that not only battles pests but also accounts for the harsh and variable environment in which Texas wheat grows, Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder and member of the research team, said.
“We are now looking to the past—to wheat’s wild relatives—to find solutions to these stresses, which can reduce yield and end-use quality,” Rudd said.
Synthetic wheat lines have been developed before by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. These lines come from artificial interspecific crosses of durum wheat and Aegilops tauschii, a progenitor species of wheat, Rudd said.
The lines serve as reservoirs of resistant genes not found in modern wheat varieties, he noted.
“A lot of work has been done worldwide to bring genes from synthetics into spring wheat,” Rudd said. “But so far, little has been done to incorporate these into winter wheat like we grow in the Great Plains of the U.S.”
The team hopes to combine the resistance found in synthetic lines with existing bread wheat germplasm to broaden the genetic base, allowing for more durable resistance, Liu said.
“This project will provide a greater understanding of the pest-resistance mechanisms,” he said. “The genetic markers linked to them can aid in selection efficiency by breeders, who will use the superior germplasm to develop future cultivars with these resistances for farmers.”
Joining Liu and Rudd on the team are Dr. Chenggen Chu, wheat genetics scientist; Dr. Ada Szczepaniec, entomologist; Dr. Qingwu Xue, crop stress physiologist; Dr. Amir Ibrahim, wheat breeder; and Dr. Shichen Wang, bioinformatics scientist.