Selection of Advanced Bread Wheat Lines for Their Response to Premature Ripening Caused by Fusarium sp.

Abstract

Objective: Screen a bread wheat trial for resistance to Crown root rot.

Design/methodology/approach: one hundred and fifty experimental wheat lines with different genetic and physiological characteristics, were inoculated under greenhouse conditions with a mixture of five species of Fusarium, which were isolated from wheat commercial fields. The response of the wheat germplasm to the disease was scored through a disease index.

Results: Sixty-three bread wheat experimental lines were identified with a disease severity of 1 to 9%, which are considered as resistant.

Limitations on study/implications: The evaluation of wheat germplasm for disease resistance in the field presents important variables, which cannot be controlled, mainly for the spatial distribution of pathogens; hence, a better option is to carry out the trials under a controlled environment.

Findings/conclusions: Eleven genotypes were selected based on their resistance to Crown rot and to a better grain yield per spike.