Meta-Analysis of FHB Resistance QTL in Chinese Wheat Landraces.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most devastative diseases in wheat. Growing resistant cultivars is one of the most effective strategies to minimize the disease damage. Many Chinese landraces and breeding lines have been reported to have high or moderately resistant to FHB, such as Wangshuibai, Huangcandou, Huangfangzhu. Meta-analysis, a statistical method to combine results across independent studies into one single result, has not been extensively used in FHB QTL mapping. In this study, we estimated 95% CIs of 24 FHB type II resistance QTL according to the QTL locations and QTL effects from five mapping studies: Haiyanzhong (HYZ), Wangshuibai (WSB), Baishanyuehuang (BSYH), Huangfangzhu (HFZ) and Huangcandou (HCD). Nineteen QTL for FHB type II resistance were projected to 10 QTL clusters. Five QTL (1A, 5A, 7A and 3BS (2)) especially, were identified as confirmed QTL to have stable and consistent effects on FHB resistance, should be good candidate for pyramiding in breeding. The QTL on 7D is a unique QTL from HYZ, but it is of major effect on type II resistance, and should be used as another major source in breeding after further evaluation in different populations.