QTL mapping of multiple disease resistance traits in a synthetic hexaploid x bread wheat population

The most cost effective and environmentally safe means by which wheat diseases can be controlled is through the use of genetic resistance in commercially grown cultivars. The identification and genetic characterisation of new sources of disease resistance and their transfer to the adapted genetic backgrounds is of great importance for breeding for disease resistance. The development of molecular markers closely linked to resistance genes could enable genes to be effectively pyramided. Synthetic hexaploid wheat lines offer diverse sources of unique alleles for wheat improvement contributed by cultivated tetraploid and wild diploid relatives of common bread wheat.