Genotypic variation in winter wheat for fusarium foot rot and its biocontrol using <i>Clonostachys rosea</i>

Biological control to manage plant diseases is an environmentally friendly alternative to using chemical pesticides. However, little is known about the role of genetic variation in plants affecting the efficacy of biological control agents (BCAs). The aim of this study was to explore the genetic variation in winter wheat for disease susceptibility to fusarium foot rot caused by Fusarium graminearum and variation in biocontrol efficacy of the fungal BCA Clonostachys rosea to control the disease. In total, 190 winter wheat genotypes were evaluated under controlled conditions in two treatments, i.e. (i) F. graminearum (Fg) and (ii) F. graminearum infection on C. rosea treated seeds (FgCr). Alongside disease severity, plant growth-related traits such as shoot length and root length were also measured. Comparison of genotypes between the two treatments enabled the dissection of genotypic variation for disease resistance and C. rosea efficacy. The study revealed significant variation among plant genotypes for fusarium foot rot susceptibility and other growth traits in treatment Fg. Moreover, significant variation in C. rosea efficacy was also observed in genotype contrasts between the two treatments for all traits. Using a 20K marker array, a genome-wide association study was also performed. We identified a total of 18 significant marker-trait associations for disease resistance and C. rosea efficacy for all the traits. Moreover, the markers associated with disease resistance and C. rosea efficacy were not co-localized, highlighting the independent inheritance of these traits, which can facilitate simultaneous selection for cultivar improvement.