Agronomic performance and multiple disease resistance in T2BS.2RL wheat-rye translocation lines

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-Rye (Secale cereale L.) T2BS.2RL translocations were shown to increase grain yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and had minor effects on baking quality. The objective of this study was to test agronomic performance and resistance of a new wheat-rye translocation (T2BS.2RL, SLU) to powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis E sp. tritici (DC.) E. O. Speer), leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.), stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici Eriks. & Henn.), stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici Westend.) and Hessian fly [Mayetiola destructor (Say)]. F-2 derived F-4-F-6 T2BS.2RL lines, non-translocation lines, and the wheat cultivar Holme were compared using intact seedlings or leaf segments. T2BS.2RL conferred seedling resistance to 17 powdery mildew isolates, 14 leaf rust and one stem rust pathotype. The T2BS.2RL lines were susceptible to 3 stripe rust pathotypes as seedlings, while showing adult plant resistance under natural conditions. Agronomic characters were compared in a 2-yr hill-plot field trial in Sweden. T2BS.2RL lines flowered 2 to 3 d later and had an increased number of spikelets per spike. The T2BS.2RL had no significant effect on yield, straw length, lodging, volume weight, 1000-kernel weight, fertility, alpha-amylase activity, or starch or protein content. The multiple disease resistance and the minor negative effects on agronomic performance of the T2BS.2RL, SLU translocation encourage its use in wheat breeding.