Major traits for breeding of barley and wheat in Japan

Abstract

  Both barley and wheat originate from the arid regions of the Near East. Their characteristics need to be improved in order to grow them in the Japanese environment. One of the challenges of barley and wheat production in our humid conditions is Fusarium head blight. Recently, a resistance candidate gene in barley was identified and shown to have mycotoxin suppressive effects. Research is currently underway to utilize the results to reduce mycotoxin content in wheat. The authors isolated Qsd1, a major seed dormancy gene in barley that determines the length of germination and is effective in preventing grain damage caused by rain during the harvest period. A triple mutant created by genome editing targeting sequences common to the three wheat homoeologous genes of Qsd1 exhibits approximately one week longer seed dormancy, and is expected to have the effect of improving pre-harvest sprouting resistance.