Genetic Dissection of Drought Tolerance in Spring Wheat Under US Northern Plains Conditions.

Drought (water stress) is crucial for wheat as it affects regularly about 50% of the wheat production area worldwide. Drought can potentially hinder plant growth and development causing significant decrease in wheat productivity and quality. Developing wheat cultivars with improved drought tolerance and water-use efficiency is the most sustainable and economically viable approach to resolve drought problems. Understanding the genetics of drought tolerance in wheat is a pre-requisite to achieve this goal. Here, we decipher the genetics of drought tolerance in US spring wheat using a population of 149 RILs developed from a cross between the drought tolerant cultivar ‘Reeder’ (PI613586) and drought susceptible cultivar ‘Albany’. The RIL population was evaluated under non-irrigated field conditions at three locations for three years and phenotypic data was collected for plant height, days to flowering, yield, test weight, and thousand kernel weight. Illumina 90K SNP chip was used for genotyping. Data is being analyzed and preliminary results indicate several QTLs related to phenotypic traits. Detailed results will be the subject of this presentation.