Molecular and Phenotypic Screening of Wheat Cultivars against Stripe Rust Caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici

Stripe rust is a devastating foliar disease of wheat threatening its productivity. During field screening, conducted in the Division of Plant Pathology, P.G. Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College Amritsar, cultivars were categorized into resistance and susceptible on the basis disease severity was noted at 10 intervals, Final Rust Severity (FRS) is observed using modified Cobb’s scale. Out of 34 cultivars, 5 cultivars were resistant, whereas 8 cultivars were susceptible including PBW343 as check. PBW621, PBW660 and PBW766 cultivars were resistant and showed presence of both genes Yr10 and Yr15. Further, SSR marker Xpsp3000 revealed 260 bp fragment in 12 cultivars which signifies presence of Yr10 gene and 240 bp fragment in 22 varieties which depicts absence. Likewise, Xbarc8 marker showed PCR fragment of 250 bp in 10 cultivars which marks the presence of Yr15 gene, while 24 varieties showed the amplification of 280 bp fragments which signifies the absence of Yr15 gene. The resistance genes Yr10 and Yr15 provide all-stage resistance along with few other genes are still effective against most predominant pathotypes in North India viz., 46S119, 110S119, 238S119, 78S84 for durable disease resistance to wheat crop.