Molecular identification of slow rusting leaf rust resistance genes in the Romanian wheat germplasm

In the fight of wheat against Puccinia triticina and the fight of breeders for obtaining resistant cultivars, host resistance genes play a major role. Therefore, the identification of resistance genes in modern wheat cultivars and breeding lines, and then selection of the best resistance genes combination(s) are the first steps for a successful breeding. At present, among the known genes with slow rusting effect the most common are the genes: Lr34 (Dyck, 1977), Lr46 (Singh et al., 1998), Lr67 (Hiebert et al., 2010 and Herrera Foessel et al., 2011) and Lr68 (Herrera Foessel et al., 2012). Today, there are molecular markers that enable early detection of these genes and the markers assisted selection (MAS) allows a significant improvement of breeders’ efforts.