Resistance of the Triticum and Aegilops species to drought and fungal diseases in Western Siberia

To elevate the yield of soft wheat grain, it is important to increase the resistance of varieties to drought and fungal diseases. One of the approaches solving the problem is distant hybridization with related cereals. The aim of the research was to study a set of samples of the genera Triticum and Aegilops for resistance to drought and fungal diseases in the South of Western Siberia. The objects were samples of rare Triticum species (23 pcs.) and species of the genus Aegilops (19 pcs.) from the Collection of the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR, St. Petersburg). Field studies were conducted in 2020 and 2021 under conditions of severe drought and high temperatures (the hydrothermal coefficients HTCs in the period “May - Augustˮ were 0.60 and 0.55, respectively). Drought resistance decreased in a number of species: T. timopheevii , T. diccocum , T. monococcum , T. persicum , T. boeoticum , T. araraticum . Among the tetraploid wheats T. dicoccum (k-40169), T. timopheevii (k-30922, k-31684) were the most productive. Under drought conditions, species of the genus Aegilops died at different stages of development or did not form a grain, with the exception of the Ae. speltoides (k-12). High resistance to powdery mildew, leaf and stem rust was shown by the accessions: T. boeoticum (k-30213), T. monococcum (k-18140, k-20983, k-20985, k-30086, k-46750), Ae. mutica (k-3984), Ae. speltoides (k-12, k-43, k-452, k-453), Ae. aucheri (k-464), Ae. longissima (k-3932), Ae. umbellulata (k-849), Ae. biuncialis (k-4456), Ae. triuncialis (k-4283), Ae. kotschyi (k-91, k-93), Ae. variabilis (k-4273), Ae. columnaris (k-4406), Ae. triaristata (k-4530), Ae. juvenalis (k-4324). Accessions of T. timopheevii (k-30922, k-31684, k-38555, k-46956, k-47793) showed high resistance to powdery mildew, leaf and stem rusts; T. dicoccum (k-40169, k-38895, k-20748) and T. persicum (k-1694) - to rust diseases. Information about the resistance of accessions to abiotic and biotic factors must be taken into account in the distant hybridization programs.