Cereals and Pulses / Oilseeds

Successful solutions

• Discovered rust-resistant genes (leaf and stem rust in wheat; stem and crown rust in oat) and developed DNA markers for several of these genes. This will help scientists develop disease resistant varieties.
• Identified the new strain of Ug99 stem rust in Africa as a threat to Canadian wheat production; found three novel sources of resistance; identified and mapped the resistant gene.
• Identified regions in the genome contributing Fusarium Head Blight resistance in spring and durum wheat; the location of the chromosome of a number of resistance genes for smut and bunt pathogens in wheat and barley; characterized ergot resistance in wheat.
• Developed germplasm for multiple disease resistance to common bacterial blight, anthracnose and bean common mosaic virus.