Identification of New Sources of Resistance to Crown Rot and Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat

Crown rot (CR) and Fusarium head blight (FHB) are two serious wheat diseases caused by Fusarium pathogens in China. To identify new resistant sources for CR and FHB, 205 Chinese wheat cultivars collected from Huang-Huai wheat-growing region in China were screened for resistance. Cunmai633, LS4607, Pubing01, and Hongyun2 showed seedling resistance to CR with disease index (DI) less than 0.25. Sixteen cultivars showed adult-plant resistance to CR with DI lower than 0.10. Twenty-six cultivars showed moderate resistance to CR at seedling stage with DI from 0.26 to 0.35, and 63 cultivars showed moderate adult-plant resistance with DI from 0.11 to 0.20. Among them, Cunmai633, LS4607, Pubing01, Xinong916, Zhengda161, Xumai14017, Zhengpinmai30, Bainong8822, Jimai216, Huacheng865, Fengyumai5, and Tianmin319 showed resistance or moderate resistance to CR at both seedling and adult plant stages, with Cunmai633 showing the best resistance. Most of the cultivars (>76%) were susceptible to FHB in both the 2017 and 2018 experiments with DI > 0.40. However, some cultivars demonstrated excellent FHB resistance. For example, Zhongyu1526, Tianminxiaoyan369, and Yangao168 were resistant (DI ≤ 0.25) in 2017 and moderately resistant (0.26 ≤ DI ≤ 0.40) in 2018; Zhongwo9 was moderately resistant in 2017 (DI = 0.38) and resistant in 2018 (DI = 0.25). Eight cultivars (Cunmai608, Zhengmai162, Minfeng266, Junda159, LS4607, Deyan1603, Pumai1165, and Fengmai12) showed moderate FHB resistance with DI lower than 0.40 in both experiments. LS4607 showed moderate resistance to both diseases. The resistant cultivars identified in this study can be used for mapping the resistance genes and improving resistance to CR and/or FHB.