BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram

Norway has in recent years become almost self-sufficient in wheat thanks to better and more adapted varieties. While nearly all high quality wheat for bread making was imported a couple of decades ago, the milling and baking industry now depend on quality wheat produced in Norway. To achieve bread making quality is especially a challenge in organic wheat production where the protein content often falls below critical levels. The lack of adequate disease resistance in current cultivars is another important constraint. Application of fungicides against leaf diseases like Powdery Mildew (PM) and Septoria Leaf Blotch (SLB) adds extra costs to the farmers and threaten the environment from the conventional system while creating yield losses in organic productio n. Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) raises health concerns related to mycotoxins an also reduces the yield. Genetic solutions that address these challenges are available, but take time. This project is aimed at speeding up the breeding of quality and disease re sistant wheat cultivars by implementing an efficient system for marker-assisted selection (MAS). The protein content will be increased by marker-assisted introgression of the Gpc-B1 gene from wild emmer wheat, which in other germplasm has enhanced the pro tein content by 0.5-2 % units without the usual yield penalty. This gene also increases the concentrations of micronutrients like Fe and Zn in the grains. We have through previous research projects successfully identified good molecular markers for PM and FHB resistance and these will now be applied in practice to develop more resistant cultivars. Moreover, we will develop markers for new sources of resistance against these diseases to broaden the genetic base, and validate potentially useful markers for SLB. Once implemented, the system for MAS can be expanded to other important crop plants, and will in the long run support the development of a more competitive and environmentally friendly Norwegian agriculture.