Reaction of Iranian Wheat Landraces to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) under Field and Greenhouse Conditions

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by various species of Fusarium particularly Fusarium graminearum, is one of the destructive diseases of wheat in Iran especially in northern parts of the country. In addition to reducing wheat yield and quality, the disease is important due to potent mycotoxin production by the pathogens. The present study was carried out to evaluate the responses of 117 accessions of wheat landraces from the collection of Cereal Research Department (CRD), Seed & Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), Karaj, Iran to FHB under field and greenhouse conditions. Based on the results of spray-inoculated field experiments, 31 out of 117 genotypes were detected to be resistant to FHB with mean disease index ≤10%. It seems that at least 21 genotypes have a genetic basis, possessing Type I resistance. Results of greenhouse experiments using point inoculations showed that all genotypes were susceptible which may refer to lack of Type II resistance among the genotypes tested. Considering the presence of Type I resistance among the considerable number of accessions tested, which can largely keep the product clean of the disease under field conditions, these genotypes may be used as FHB-resistant parents in wheat breeding programs in order to transfer disease resistance into commercial cultivars.