Pre-breeding to develop regionally adapted and virus resistant winter wheat cultivars safeguarding future wheat production in times of climate-change

SUPERVISOR: Hermann BÜRSTMAYR

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Jakob SEEREITER 

In my research, I study how winter wheat can become more resistant to wheat dwarf virus infections. Wheat dwarf virus can cause severe damage in winter wheat production, and with advancing climate change, it is projected to gain in importance in many regions of Europe. Prolonged warm temperatures into autumn can expand the activity window of the leafhopper, that transmits the virus between plants, and hence increase the overlap between vector activity and the winter wheat growing period. So far, knowledge about resistance against wheat dwarf virus in wheat is relatively limited, and there is a lack of resistant cultivars for wheat growers to choose. 

In a collaboration between BOKU University, Saatzucht Edelhof and Saatzucht Donau, we combine multi environment field trials and genetic analysis to expand our knowledge and tool box for future wheat dwarf virus resistance breeding.

1.)

On the one hand, we introduce a recently described genetic region associated with wheat dwarf virus resistance (resistance quantitative-trait-locus, resistance QTL), into regionally adapted breeding material. This is done through cross-breeding followed by selection based on genetic analysis (marker-assisted selection, MAS). This approach enables us to develop wheat dwarf virus resistant breeding material and to evaluate the effect of the selected resistance QTL in diverse genetic backgrounds. 

Main research questions: 

  • Are our developed lines less susceptible?
  • Is the used source for resistance, applicable for practical winter wheat breeding programs? 

2.)

Second, we aim to analyse the potential for wheat dwarf virus resistance in existing winter wheat material. To achieve this, a diverse panel of existing cultivars, new breeding material and experimental lines is screened for resistance to wheat dwarf virus, and the genetic basis of variation in the resistance response is analysed.

Main research questions: 

  • Is there genetic potential for resistance within the selected pool of genotypes?
  • Can we find QTLs for wheat dwarf virus resistance?
  • Is it possible to train genome wide selection models for wheat dwarf virus resistance based on the selected pool of genotypes? 

Winter wheat plants with sever virus symptoms (Tulln an der Donau, 2025)

Left: Field trial for virus screenings with 1m² plots (Tulln an der Donau, autumn 2024); Right: Line development in greenhouse; propagation of F2 plants which are fixed for wheat dwarf virus resistance-QTL