08/29/06 Research on Rhizoctonia resistance

Farm and Ranch August 29, 2006 Through the use of non-GMO induced mutation, researchers at Washington State University and USDA's ARS at Pullman have identified a new Rhizoctonia root rot tolerant gene in the spring wheat Scarlet. WSU spring wheat breeder Kim Kidwell explains why this discovery could be a boon for direct seed spring cropping systems. Kidwell: "Because from our view, with direct seeding the big risk factor is Rhizoctonia root rot and when you get it, it pretty much wipes you out." Kidwell says they want to develop some DNA tags to make it easier to move that gene into new cultivars. Kidwell: "The second thing we are going to do is deploy that as quickly as we can into our breeding material. And that is traditional crossing. The third thing that is interesting is that we screened it for pythium resistance as well and it appears to have pretty good tolerance to pythium. So bang for the buck, it was a seriously good find. Our hope is to get it integrated into some of these cultivars so that we enhance their performance in direct seeding." So far this research has all taken place in the greenhouse. Kidwell: "You know the first place we are going to have to go next year when we have more seed is to the field to make sure what we see in the growth chamber holds up out there, but we are hopeful." The ARS research is led by molecular geneticist Camille Steber who team is also looking at mutants for drought tolerance and resistance to glyphosate, which would be non-GMO Roundup resistance. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.