LAUSR

Stripe rust and leaf rust cause wheat yield losses of up to 70% worldwide. The employment of resistant cultivars is the major method to reduce losses from these diseases. The objective of this study was to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for stripe rust and leaf rust resistance in 150 F6 recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from a cross between Mianyang351-15 and Zhengzhou 5389. Both parents and the RIL population were genotyped with the Wheat55K SNP array and SSR markers, and phenotyped for stripe rust severity at Mianyang in Sichuan province and Baoding in Hebei province, and for leaf rust severity at Zhoukou in Henan province and at Baoding in 2014 to 2017 cropping seasons. Seven and four QTL all contributed from Mianyang351-15 were identified for resistance to stripe rust and leaf rust, respectively. Four of these QTL on chromosomes 1BL, 2AS, 2DS and 7BL conferred resistance to both stripe rust and leaf rust. The QTL on 1BL, 2AS and 7BL were identified as Lr46/Yr29, Lr37/Yr17 and Lr68, respectively. QYr.hbau-2DS/QLr.hbau-2DS was detected at similar positions to previously reported loci. QYr.hbau-1DL, QYr.hbau-3AS and QYr.hbau-3DL are likely to be new. Combined effects of QTL in the RIL population indicated RIL combining all QTL had the highest resistance level than those with lower numbers or no QTL. These QTL, with their closely linked SNP markers, are applicable for marker-assisted breeding and candidate gene discovery.