Use of Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) of Wheat in Disease Resistance Breeding

Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the three major cereal crops contributing 20% calories to the world population. The most serious constraints to wheat production are biotic stresses like rusts, blights, powdery mildew, bunts and smuts. Genetic or host plant resistance is the best way to control these diseases than use of chemical pesticides. Continuous search for novel genes is indispensable to counter the dynamic and rapidly evolving pathogen population. In case of some diseases like spot blotch, Karnal Bunt and Fusarium head blight development of resistant cultivars is not an easy task as the resistance to them found in the germplasm is not satisfactory and none of the commercial cultivars showed resistance. Hence, underutilized crop wild relatives prove to be valuable resource in the search for new disease resistance genes to combat wheat diseases.