Improvement of Hard White Winter Wheat for Kansas

Introduction:
The Kansas State University wheat breeding programs have a long history of developing varieties that meet the needs of Kansas producers and the wheat industry. In 2006, more than 43% of the Kansas wheat acres were planted to varieties developed at KSU, including the second third and fourth most grown wheats (http://www.nass.usda.gov/ks/whtvar/whtvar06.htm). The primary goals of the program are centered on continuing this high level relevance to the Kansas wheat industry, with exceptional productivity and quality serving as the cornerstones of the program. Plant breeding is more of a process than a project and, thus, requires consistent long-term planning and support.

The objective of this program is to develop new hard white winter wheat varieties that are adapted to Kansas. These varieties should have excellent yield, adequate protection against prevalent biotic and abiotic stresses and end use quality traits that are desired by domestic and international customers. The methodology/approach is identical to the red program except that there is an increased emphasis on pre-harvest sprout tolerance and a more stringent selection pressure enforced for quality attributes.

Progress report:
Several sources of tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) have been introduced and are now present in the segregating generations of the breeding program. We have completed two years of screening experimental materials. We now have a number of adapted white lines that have PHS tolerance levels similar to Jagger. This foundation of tolerance allows us to accelerate breeding efforts to develop hard white wheats well adapted to central Kansas. The other side of the equation is that we have a number of experimental hard white wheat lines that, aside from sprout tolerance, are very well adapted to central Kansas. In 20065, several white wheats were in the top performing set of lines in central Kansas. The crossing program has already begun to focusing on crossing sprout tolerant lines with well adapted experimentals. Approximately one-third of the effort of the Manhattan program is focused on development of hard white wheat.

Progress Report
Second Quarter FY08 (October 1, 2007-December 31, 2007)

Accomplishments since last report:

Planting operations were completed with nurseries established at Lane County, Barber County, Caldwell, Conway Springs, Hutchinson, Gypsum, Manhattan, Belleville and Everest. The leaf rust nursery was also planted in South Texas. Crossing was also largely completed in this time frame. More than 600 crosses were made with a focus on minor gene leaf and stripe rust resistance, overall disease resistance, Hessian fly resistance, yield and quality.

Lauren Smith, a M.S. student, is nearing completion of her degree. She has added numerous markers to the Dharwar Dry/Sitta map for drought tolerance that was initiated by Francis Kirigwi. Initial analysis indicates that additional regions in Dharwar Dry impact drought tolerance but the major effect is the 4A QTL Kirigwi identified. Lauren is also completing a project to determine the relationship between Lr52 and the gene in PI 289824. This information will help us determine how best to used these gene(s).

Near isogenic lines of a drought tolerance QTL in Jagger are nearing completion and will allow field verification of the value of the region.

Populations segregating for Hessian fly were screened. Resistant plants were retained and used for crossing as well as seed increase.

Casey McNeil, a new Ph.D. student, has started mapping new genes for stem rust in collaboration with Mike Pumphrey. These are genes that are effective against Ug99. Several genes for Ug99 resistance are being incorporated into the breeding material, as well.

Sprout tolerance of lines selected in 2007 was completed. Several lines with good sprout tolerance were identified. They may lack some agronomic characteristics necessary for varietal release, but have reasonable adaptation to Kansas and will make very strong parents. Some lines were used in Fall 2007 crossing, while many others will be used for the Spring 2008 crossing cycle.