Juvenile and Age Resistance of Soft Wheat Samples from the All-Russian Institute of Crop Production Collection to Powdery Mildew and Leaf Rust

Powdery mildew and leaf rust are harmful diseases of bread wheat in most regions of crop cultivation. The most rational way to combat the diseases is to cultivate resistant varieties. Their creation requires the presence of reliable donors and sources of resistance. The existing resistant genotypes can become susceptible as a result of changes in the genetic structure of pathogen populations and phenotypic changes in virulence under the influence of environmental factors. As a result, the search for new resistant genotypes is a pressing issue. Juvenile resistance of 780 spring bread wheat samples from the collection of the All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources named after N.I. Vavilov (VIR) to powdery mildew and leaf rust was studied. Seedling resistance of spring common wheat samples to two diseases was studied in the Genetics Department of VIR using standard methods. Adult resistance to diseases at the Yekaterinino Experimental Station – a branch of VIR (Tambov Region) and on VIR experimental fields in the Pushkin (Leningrad region) was carried out according to the VIR Methodological Instructions. During the study, 43 varieties and accessions with a high level of resistance to leaf rust and 27 – to powdery mildew were identified. Cultivars Ekada 85, Tulaikovskaya 117 and line 71-73 have group resistance to 2 diseases. It was shown that only material from Russia is characterized by resistance to leaf rust, while resistance to powdery mildew from European countries.