Development of Multiple Rust-Resistant Durum Wheat Genotypes and Identification of Resistance Sources Using Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS)

Abstract

Wheat is the most strategic crop that provides about 20% of the daily dietary protein intake in the world. The productivity and production of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) is affected by stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici: Pgt), leafrust (Puccinia triticina: Pt) and yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis f.sp. Tritici: Pst) in different countries (Silva et al. 2023). Virulent races of (Pgt), such as TTRTF, and races of (Pst), such as PstS7 and PstS14, have been recently identified in Morocco (El Hanafi, S. et al. 2018). Across North Africa and the Middle Eastern regions where durum wheat is a major staple crop, rust diseases pose a serious threat to wheat production, often leading to severe yield losses under favorable disease development conditions. The most prevalent diseases in farmers' fields were leaf rust (LR) and stripe rust (SR), highlighting the need to develop elite germplasm with multiple disease resistance. Efforts have been made to develop multiple resistance to three rust diseases in ICARDA durum wheat breeding pipelines. The objective of this work is to identify new sources of resistance to three rust diseases of durum wheat