Use of the genetic diversity of European flint landraces for resistance to Giberella ear rot in maize
Funding | Deutscher Akademischer Austausch-dienst (DAAD) (Stipendium), KWS SAAT AG |
Duration | 2017 - 2020 |
Research partners | Institut für Pflanzenzüchtung, Saatgutfor-schung und Populationsgenetik, Prof. Dr. A.E. Melchinger; TU München, Prof. Dr. C.C. Schön/Dr. E. Bauer |
Industrial partners | KWS SAAT AG, Dr. B. Kessel/Dr. T. Presterl |
Team | |
European landraces are a valuable resource for plant breeding. The ability to produce double haploids (DH) in a single step allows the transfer of valuable traits directly from landraces into hybrid breeding material. The aim of this project is to estimate the genetic variance for resistance to downy mildew in two old landraces, 'Petkuser Ferdinand Rot' from Petkus/Brandenburg and 'Kemater Landmais Gelb' from Tyrol/Austria. For this purpose, 250 DH lines per population have been established. They will be tested at two locations in two years and two replicates using artificial infection. For this purpose, a conidial suspension of Fusarium graminearum is injected into the stigma canal of 10 plants per row shortly after the female flowers. The fungus then grows more or less deeply into the cob, depending on the resistance of the line, and infects the kernel and rachis. At harvest, read leaves are removed and the percentage of cobs infected is recorded. The same DH lines were screened at the Technical University of Munich using a 600 k SNP array and, once the results were available, quantitative and association genetic analyses were carried out to identify the QTL (quantitative trait loci) relevant to resistance. | |