EU H2020 FP7 INNOVAR project aims to augment existing wheat CPVO Distinctness-Uniformity-Stability (DUS) and Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) protocols to include a combination of traditional phenotyping and innovative genomics and phenomics techniques. INNOVAR developed two panels of durum and bread wheat representative of the European germplasm (250 and 280 cultivars, respectively). Additionally, UNIBO and international partners assembled the Svevo Durum wheat reference genome and a comprehensive Global Durum Genomic Resources including: the Tetraploid Global Collection (TGC: 1,856 tetraploids) and the Global Durum Panel (GDP: 1,033 varieties worldwide).

All resources were genotyped with the Illumina 90K wheat SNP Array and characterized under a network of field trials for: (i) 52 DUS agronomic traits, (ii) phenology, agronomic, yield and quality traits, (iii) 20 vegetation indexes obtained by UAV drone flights at eight key developmental stages, (iv) response to wheat diseases including Soil Borne Cereal Mosaic Virus (SBCMV) and yellow rust (YR). Haplotype genome wide association analysis on DUS traits revealed strong signals for all traits. We report about two valuable loci, considered as case-studies for DUS and VCU, responsible for grain yield and resistance to SBCMV. In wheat, grain yield is positively associated with grain number per inflorescence.

We identified Grain Number Increase-2 (GNI-2) on chr. 2A (R2=38%), a paralogue of GNI-1, as a main determinant of grain number increase in the analysed durum panels. We fine mapped it with 11 KASP® markers to a 3.9 Mb interval. We demonstrated that alleles showing suppressed or reduced expression at both GNI-2 and GNI-1 increase grain yield in both durum and bread wheat. As to SBCMV resistance, a major QTL on chr. 2B named QSbm.ubo-2BS=Sbm2 (R2=60%) was identified and fine mapped to a region of 1.5 Mb. We designed 21 KASP® markers defining resistant/susceptible haplotypes to SBCMV.

The resistant haplotype spread in both North American, French and Northern Italian germplasm while highly susceptible alleles were identified in Mediterranean region and CIMMYT germplasm. The gene content of the locus showed a clear enrichment for disease-response related genes.

The development of informative KASP markers and candidate gene identification will augment the information accuracy for variety selection in breeding programs and European CPVO registration protocols. The Global Durum Genomic Resources provides unprecedented opportunities to exploit the tetraploid diversity.

Aknowledgements: H2020 FP7 “INNOVAR” - Next generation variety testing for improved cropping on European farmland; “CerealMed”- Enhancing diversity in Mediterranean cereal farming systems project, funded by PRIMA2019.

Emails: matteo.bozzoli2@unibo.it , cristian.forestan@unibo.it , martinabruschi86@gmail.com , sandra.stefanelli@unibo.it , francesco.desario3@unibo.it , alessia.confortini2@unibo.it , annapiamaria.giulini@crea.gov.it , tommaso.bardelli@crea.gov.it , elena.novarina@crea.gov.it , m.ruggeri@horta-srl.com , d.meriggi@horta-srl.com , v.manstretta@horta-srl.com , edoardo.bartoccetti@saltlemon.it , s.udupa@cgiar.org , pkh@tystofte.dk , ssakuma@tottori-u.ac.jp , manar.makhoul@agrar.uni-giessen.de , rod.snowdon@agrar.uni-giessen.de , schnurbusch@ipk-gatersleben.de , humberto.fanelli@gmail.com , j.isidro@upm.es , fiona.doohan@ucd.ie , lisa.black@afbini.gov.uk , claudio.ratti@unibo.it , roberto.tubersa@unibo.it , marco.maccaferri@unibo.it