Resistance Potential of Bread Wheat Genotypes Against Yellow Rust Disease Under Egyptian Climate

Yellow rust (stripe rust), caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is one of the most destructive foliar diseases of wheat in Egypt and worldwide. In order to identify wheat genotypes resistant to yellow rust and develop molecular markers associated with the resistance, fifty F(8) recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between resistant and susceptible bread wheat landraces were obtained. Artificial infection of Puccinia striiformis was performed under greenhouse conditions during two growing seasons and relative resistance index (RRI) was calculated. Two Egyptian bread wheat cultivars i.e. Giza-168 (resistant) and Sakha-69 (susceptible) were also evaluated. RRI values of two-year trial showed that 10 RILs responded with RRI value >6 <9 with an average of 7.29, which exceeded the Egyptian bread wheat cultivar Giza-168 (5.58). Thirty three RILs were included among the acceptable range having RRI value >2 <6. However, only 7 RILs showed RRI value <2. Five RILs expressed hypersensitive type of resistance (R) against the pathogen and showed the lowest Average Coefficient of Infection (ACI). Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) with eight simple sequence repeat (SSR), eight sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and sixteen random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers revealed that three SSR, three SRAP and six RAPD markers were found to be associated with the resistance to yellow rust. However, further molecular analyses would be performed to confirm markers associated with the resistance and suitable for marker-assisted selection. Resistant RILs identified in the study could be efficiently used to improve the resistance to yellow rust in wheat.