PJB-2025-16
MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PAKISTANI WHEAT GERMPLASM FOR POWDERY MILDEW RESISTANCE
Nasr Ullah Khan
Abstract
Powdery mildew, a devastating wheat foliar disease caused by fungus Blumeriagraminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), causes global wheat yield losses in cool and humid environments. Characterization of Pakistani wheat landraces, unexplored so far, may offer an effective strategy to avoid chemical fungicides and minimize wheat yield losses caused by powdery mildew in northern areas of Pakistan. Ninety-eight Pakistani wheat landraces along with two check (control) varieties, sown in Randomized Complete Block (RCB) Design at Hazara University, Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were evaluated in 2021-2022 wheat growing season. Data collected for powdery mildew resistance along with important agronomic traits were subjected to statistical analysis using STATISTIX 8.1. The data revealed that 56 out of 98 landraces and check variety NARC-2009 were susceptible while 42 wheat landraces and check variety SH-2002 showed moderate to high level resistance to powdery mildew. Three promising wheat landraces with high powdery mildew resistance, short height, good seed length and high 1000KW identified in this study were acc.#11126, acc.#11212 and acc.#11392. Highly significant correlation was found for powdery mildew resistance with spike length, seed length and 1000 KW (kernel weight) (p-value 0.01), suggestive of wheat yield enhancement due to powdery mildew resistance in wheat landraces. Molecular markers analysis confirmed the presence of Pm1, Pm2, Pm3, Pm4 and Pm24 in different PM-resistant wheat landraces. The most abundant gene possessed by landraces was Pm3 (23%), followed by Pm2 (10%), Pm1 (8%), Pm4 (4%) and Pm8 (1%).Only three wheat landraces namely, acc.#11126, acc.#11212 and acc.#11392, simultaneously possessed two PM resistance genes. It is concluded that the three promising wheat landraces identified in this study can be used for developing powdery resistant wheat varieties for powdery mildew-prone areas of Pakistan with cool and humid environments. Identifying Pakistani wheat landraces in order to unlock their potential for development against wheat powdery mildew was the main objective of the current study.
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