Abstract
The leaf rust is one of the most devastating disease of the wheat occuring every year in Hungary. It can cause a yield loss of 30-70% in the susceptible cultivars in years with severe epidemics. In this project we try to make the development of genetically resistant wheat cultivars more efficient and faster by which they need not be protected by costly pesticides harmful for both environment and human consumption. During this work, we propose to make two very strong leaf rust resistance genes (Lr9 and Lr29) to be much useful for the breeding practise by reducing the size of the wild wheat chromosome translocation carrying these genes to avoid the harmful effect of wild wheat on yield while keeping the resistance. We propose to use molecular markers in selection to transfer several Lr genes to our latest cultivars, and to screen most of our breeding lines for resistance. The economic turn over of resistance will be also investigated by field experiments. By offical estimations, the yearly extra cost of plant protection of wheat is at least 110 million EUR in Hungary. However, the large part of these expences could be spared by producing resistant cultivars!
Hungary