Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a disease in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum Schwabe. Fusarium head blight poses potential economic losses and health risks due to the accumulation of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) on infected seed heads. The objectives of this study were to identify novel FHB resistance loci using a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) approach and to evaluate two genomic selection (GS) approaches to improve prediction accuracies for FHB traits in a population of 354 soft red winter wheat (SRWW) genotypes. The GS approaches included GS+GWAS, where markers associated with a trait were used as fixed effects, and multivariate GS (MVGS), where correlated traits were used as covariates. The population was evaluated in FHB nurseries in Fayetteville and Newport, AR, and Winnsboro, LA, from 2014 to 2017. Genotypes were phenotyped for DON, Fusarium‐damaged kernels (FDK), incidence (INC), and severity (SEV). Forty‐two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were significantly (false discovery rate, q [FDRq] ≤ .10) associated with resistance traits across 17 chromosomes. Ten significant SNPs were identified for DON, notably on chromosomes 2BL and 3BL. Eleven were identified for FDK, notably on chromosomes 4BL, 3AL, 1BL, 5BL, and 5DL. Nine were identified for INC, notably on chromosomes 2BS, 2BL, 7BL, 5DL, 6AS, and 5DS. Twelve were identified for SEV, notably on chromosomes 3BL, 4AL, and 4BL. The naïve GS models significantly outperformed the GS+GWAS model for all traits, whereas MVGS models significantly outperformed the naïve GS models for all traits. Results from this study will facilitate the development of SRWW cultivars with improved FHB resistance.

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Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is an important disease of wheat in the Great Plains and southeastern United States. Growing resistant cultivars is the preferred means for managing stripe rust, but new virulence in the pathogen population overcomes some of the resistance. The objectives of this study were to characterize the stripe rust resistance in contemporary soft and hard red winter wheat cultivars, to characterize the virulence of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates based on the resistances found in the cultivars, and to determine wheat breeders' perceptions on the importance and methods for achieving stripe rust resistance. Seedlings of cultivars were susceptible to recent isolates, indicating they lacked effective all-stage resistance. However, adult-plants were resistant or susceptible depending on the isolate, indicating they had race-specific adult-plant resistance. Using isolates collected from 1990 to 2013, six major virulence patterns were identified on adult plants of twelve cultivars that were selected as adult-plant differentials. Race-specific adult-plant resistance appears to be the only effective type of resistance protecting wheat from stripe rust in eastern United States. Among wheat breeders, the importance of incorporating stripe rust resistance into cultivars ranged from high to low depending on the frequency of epidemics in their region, and most sources of stripe rust resistance were either unknown or already overcome by virulence in the pathogen population. Breeders with a high priority for stripe rust resistance made most of their selections based on adult-plant reactions in the field, whereas breeders with a low priority for resistance based selections on molecular markers for major all-stage resistance genes.

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend. f. sp. tritici Erikss. (Pst), is an important foliar disease of soft red winter wheat (SRWW) (Triticum aestivum L.) in the eastern United States. However, very few resistance genes have been characterized in the SRWW germplasm pool. The SRWW line VA96W‐270 is known to be resistant to stripe rust race PST‐100, which was the predominant race in the United States from 2003 to 2006. To elucidate the genetic basis of resistance, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from a cross between VA96W‐270 and the susceptible cultivar Coker 9835 was evaluated for response to stripe rust infection in inoculated field nurseries over a 3‐yr period. The RIL population was then genotyped with stripe rust‐linked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and 90K single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Two major quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified, located on chromosomes 3BS and 4BL, both contributed by VA96W‐270. The 3BS and 4BL QTL explained up to 28 and 25% of the phenotypic variation for area under disease pressure curve (AUDPC), respectively. Recombinant inbred lines containing both QTL had average disease severity of 6%, compared with 38 to 45% for lines containing one of the two QTL and 69% for those containing neither QTL. Based on susceptibility of VA96W‐270 to infection at the seedling stage, the two genes appear to be associated with adult‐plant resistance. Markers associated with the two QTL were polymorphic in various wheat genotypes, suggesting they could be useful in marker‐assisted selection (MAS) to develop wheat cultivars with improved stripe rust resistance.