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Quantitative Trait Loci Associated with Seedling Resistance to Isolates of Puccinia coronata in Oat

First and third authors: Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics Program and Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1575 Linden Drive, Madison 53706; and second author: United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Cereal Disease Laboratory, 1551 Lindig Street, St. Paul, MN 55108

In our previous report, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for field adult plant resistance to crown rust were identified in an oat population of 152 F_5:6 recombinant inbred lines from the cross of ‘Ogle’ (susceptible)/MAM17-5 (resistant). The objectives of the present study were to identify in the same population, the number, genomic location, and effect of QTL and digenic QTL epistasis associated with greenhouse seedling resistance to isolates of Puccinia coronata to determine if the QTL detected are isolate-specific and to compare them with previously detected QTL for field resistance. Reaction type was scored on greenhouse seedlings inoculated with three isolates. Composite interval mapping was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with resistance using a framework map of 272 molecular markers. Two QTL, Pcq1 and Pcq2, were identified for resistance to each of the three isolates. Pcq1, the major QTL controlling field resistance, did not confer detectable greenhouse seedling resistance when present singly; however, Pcq1 did serve as an enhancer of seedling resistance when it was combined with Pcq2. The final model explained 76.5, 77.9, and 79.3% of total phenotypic variation for resistance to isolates MNB248, MNB249, and MNB251, respectively. Race-specificity of quantitative resistance remains to be further examined.