Exploring Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat as a source of genetic diversity for

rust resistance in wheat

       Daniel Cristina, Alexandru-Leonard Dumitru, Matilda Ciucă

NARDI Fundulea

Keywords: synthetic Hexaploid Wheat, rust resistance, genetic resource.

Abstract: Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the staple crops today, originates from a natural hybridization and chromosome doubling event between Triticum turgidum ssp. durum Desf. MacKey, a cultivated allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 28, AABB), and Aegilops tauschii  Coss., a diploid goat grass (2n = 2x = 14, DD). In the evolution of hexaploid wheat, due to the involvement of only a few accessions of both species, the genetic diversity of common wheat was largely decreased in comparison with its donor species.
Wild relatives of wheat have long been recognized as a source of useful genes for cultivated wheat improvement. One of the wheat breeding programs strategies in exploiting the wild relatives of wheat has been through synthetic hexaploid wheat (SHW).
SHWs have the potential to improve yield potential, tolerance/resistance to biotic stresses such as rusts, tolerance/resistance to major abiotic stresses including drought, high temperature (heat), salinity/sodicity, waterlogging, acidity, cold, and soil macro and micronutrient deficiencies or toxicities.
In this study 13 F2 plants, resulted from the cross of SHW-E1 and double haploid line B2-98, were analyzed regarding the transfer of some rust disease resistance/tolerance genes. The results highlighted recombinant SHWs lines that cumulated resistance genes, from both parental forms, in different combinations, underlining the importance of SHWs in wheat breeding programs from NARDI Fundulea.