Marker assisted backcross breeding for incorporation of rust resistance in Indian wheat varieties

Breeding rust resistant cultivars using conventional methods is time-consuming, complex and slow, but molecular markers offer a rapid alternative for developing cultivars with improved disease resistance. Three wheat cultivars, DBW88, DBW107, and DBW110, from different production zones were used as recipients for incorporation of resistance genes using a marker-assisted backcross (MAB) breeding approach. Leaf rust resistance gene Lr32 is being incorporated into all the three varieties, stripe rust resistance gene Yr15 is being incorporated into DBW88 and DBW107, and stem rust resistance gene Sr26 is being added to variety DBW110. Lines PBW703 (Yr15), FLW15 (Lr32) and Avocet (Sr26) were used as donors. Six cross combinations viz., DBW88/PBW703, DBW107/PBW703, DBW88/FLW15, DBW107/FLW15, DBW110/FLW15 and DBW110/Sr26 were made at Karnal during 2015-16 and the crosses were grown at IIWBR-RS, Dalang Maidan for backcrossing. BC1F1 plants were raised at Karnal during 2016-17. Both foreground and background selections were practiced in each combination. SSR markers gwm264 and barc135 were used for foreground selection of Lr32, marker barc8 was used for selection of Yr15, and markers Sr26#43 and BE518379 were used to detect presence and absence of Sr26. From 90 to 127 polymorphic SSR markers chosen for each cross from an initial set of 800 screened on the parents are being used for background selection.