Evaluation of leaf rust resistance genes Lr1 , Lr9 , Lr24 , Lr47 and their introgression into common wheat cultivars by marker-assisted selection

Epidemiological field controls in different Italian locations and seedling evaluations of the ‘Thatcher’ near-isogenic lines (NILs) carrying the leaf rust resistance genes Lr1, Lr9, Lr24 and Lr47 were conducted during 5 years of testing. These genes confirmed their effectiveness in both field and greenhouse conditions. Moreover a backcross program was carried out by using as recurrent parents the susceptible high-quality common wheat cvs ‘Bolero’, ‘Colfiorito’, ‘Serio’ and ‘Spada’ and the ‘Thatcher’ NILs carrying the above mentioned genes as donor parents. The progenies of different cross combinations were selected by both resistance tests and marker assisted selection using molecular markers (STS, SCAR, CAPS) closely linked to Lr genes: a complete cosegregation was observed between the resistance genes used and the corresponding molecular markers.