Identification of QTLs/Defense Genes Effective at Seedling Stage Against Prevailing Races of Wheat Stripe Rust in India

Resistance in modern wheat cultivars for stripe rust is not long lasting due to the narrow genetic base and periodical evolution of new pathogenic races. Though nearly 83 genes conferring resistance to stripe rust have been cataloged so far, few of them have been mapped and utilized in breeding programs. Characterization of wheat germplasm for novel sources of resistance and their incorporation into elite cultivars is required to achieve durable resistance and thus to minimize the yield losses. Here, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed on a set of 391 germplasm lines with the aim to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) using 35K Axiom® array. Phenotypic evaluation disease severity against four stripe rust pathotypes, i.e., 46S119, 110S119, 238S119, and 47S103 (T) at the seedling stage in a greenhouse providing optimal conditions was carried out consecutively for 2 years (2018 and 2019 winter season). We identified, a total of 17 promising QTl which passed FDR criteria. Moreover these 17 QTL identified in the current study were mapped at different genomic locations i.e. 1B, 2A, 2B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 3D, 4B, 5B and 6B. These 17 QTLs identified in the present study might play a key role in marker-assisted breeding for developing stripe rust resistant wheat cultivars.