Transfer of leaf rust and stripe rust resistance genes Lr19 and Yr15 in to a susceptible wheat cultivar HS295

The present study was conducted to transfer multiple rust resistance in a popular but rust susceptible wheat cultivar HS295. Selected derivatives WBM3632 and WBM3635 have been developed from a cross, HS295*2/FLW20//HS295*2/ FLW13 using bulk-pedigree method of breeding. Advance line WBM3697 selected from a breeding line WBM3532 was named as HS661. This line was evaluated for seedling resistance to a wide array of rust pathotypes and found to possess resistance to all the three rusts. HS661 was also tested under field conditions and showed adult plant resistance to leaf rust (AC1=0.6), stem rust (ACI=2.7) and strpe rust (AC1=3.8). Among 34 F-3 lines, 28 were tested positive for SSR marker Xwmc221 indicating the presence of Lr19/Sr25. Out of 14 selected F-4 lines from F-3, nine were homozygous positive for Lr19/Sr25. The advanced breeding lines viz., WBM3632 (WBM3697) and WBM3635 were also positive for Lr19/Sr25 with SCAR marker SCS265(512). SSR marker Xgwm1 producing 215 bp band in Avst-15, FLW13 and HS661 confirmed the presence of Yr15. Agronomically, HS661 was comparable with recipient variety HS295 and superior to a standard check HS490 under late sown restricted irrigation production conditions of NHZ. HS661 may serve as a potential donor for creating new usable variability against all the three rusts.