Inheritance of Stripe Rust Resistance to Predominant Chinese Races in Six Spring Wheat Cultivars from the Pacific Northwest of the United States

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend. f. sp. tritici Eriks., is a major disease that causes substantial losses to wheat production worldwide. The utilization of effective resistance genes in wheat cultivars is the preferred control of the disease. To study the inheritance of all-stage resistance in spring wheat cultivars Louise, WA008016, Express, Solano, Alturas and Zak from the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States, the six cultivars were crossed with the Chinese susceptible variety Taichung 29. Single-spore isolates of CYR32 and CYR33, the predominant Chinese races of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici, were used to evaluate F-1, F-2 and BC1 generations for stripe rust resistance under controlled greenhouse conditions. Genetic analysis determined that Louise had one dominant resistance gene to CYR32, temporarily designated as YrLou. WA008016 had two dominant and one recessive resistance genes to CYR32, temporarily designated as YrWA1, YrWA2 and YrWA3, respectively. Express had a single recessive gene that conferred resistance to CYR32, temporarily designated as YrExp3. The two independent dominant genes in Solano conferring resistance to CYR32 were temporarily designated as YrSol1 and YrSol2. Alturas had two recessive genes for resistance to CYR32, temporarily designated as YrAlt1 and YrAlt2. Zak has one dominant gene for resistance to CYR33, temporarily designated as YrZak1. These six cultivars can be important resistance sources in Chinese wheat stripe rust resistance breeding.