Vol. 12, Issue 12 (2023)

Author(s):
Abhishek. K Gowda, SA Desai, Suma. S Biradar, IK Kalappanavar, KN Pawar, Manoj MS, Nehaa DR, BR Patil and Mallikarjun PK

Abstract:
In India, wheat is the second most important staple food crop after rice (Oryza sativa L.). All three species of wheat i.e., bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), durum wheat (also known as Kathia or macaroni wheat) [T. turgidum L. subsp. Durum (Desf.) van Slageren], and emmer/dicoccum wheat (also known as Khapli wheat) [T. dicoccon Schrank; syn. T. turgidum L. subsp. dicoccon (Schrank) Thell] are cultivated in India. Wheat is a major staple food crop affected by several fungal diseases. Among them, spot blotch caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana poses a significant threat to wheat production and grain quality especially in dicoccum/emmer species in warm and humid regions of India and other South Asian countries due to its widespread prevalence and increasing severity. It’s imperative to control the yield loses caused by this particular disease in order to achieve sustainability in wheat production. Marker assisted introgression will aid in developing BC₂F₁ lines which can be molecularly confirmed and heterozygous can be selfed and backcrossed simultaneously to generate BC₃F₁s and BC₂F₂s which can serve as an excellent genetic material for functional genomics and expression studies to understand the molecular mechanisms, pathways underlying the disease resistance and to develop genetic stocks and developing a resistant line in a near future.