Evaluation of CIMMYT’s Triticum aestivum L. accessions from the 4th WWSRRN for resistance to powdery mildew in the north-eastern forest steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Aim. To determine immunological characteristics of CIMMYT’s accessions from the 4th WWSRRN for resistance to powdery mildew in the north-eastern forest-steppe of Ukraine and to select resources of resistance of the train of interest. Results and Discussion. Thirty five CIMMYT’s accessions from the 4th WWSRRN were taken as the test material. Resistance of wheat plants to powdery mildew was assessed on natural infectious background using varieties - infection accumulators (Keprok, Agassis) in compliance with conventional. To determine the yield capacity of the varieties, we analyzed the plant morphology in harvested sheaves. We measured the plant height and 1000-seed weight. The data were statistically processed. We found that the variability of resistance to powdery mildew in the 4th WWSRRN accessions significantly depended on the genotype – 44 %. In a three-year study, we discovered that the highest resistance was intrinsic to the middle-late group (7.3 points), and the lowest one – to the mid-ripening group (6.3 points), though these accessions had the highest adaptability because the variability was 0.8 points. We compared accessions belonging to various ripeness groups. The middle-late group contained the highest percentage of highly resistant genotypes – 83 %. The test accessions were compared with check variety Podolianka for resistance to powdery mildew. Thirteen accessions significantly exceeding the check variety were identified. We distinguished accession Fiorina with high resistance (8.1 points) to the pathogen. Having examined the averages for the 4 ripeness groups, we can state that the highest yields were produced by accessions from the mid-early and mid-ripening groups - 588 g/m2. Therefore, these groups of varieties have the best adaptability. Conclusions. The comprehensive study of the CIMMYT’s accessions from the 4th WWSRRN on natural infectious background using varieties - infection accumulators allowed us to single out accessions with high resistance to the powdery mildew pathogen and other economically valuable characteristics: Cv. Rodina/AE. Speltoides (10 KR), Vorona / HD2402 // Steklovidnaya 24, ETA / K-62905=ESTER, Cv. Rodina / Aе. Speltoides (10 KR). They can be recommended as sources of resistance to the pathogen, high adaptability and performance for programmes developing new breeding material of winter wheat.