Abstract
Fusarium head blight, caused mainly by Fusarium graminearum is one of the most damaging diseases of wheat. Breeding durable disease resistance cultivars rely largely on continually introgression new resistance genes, especially the genes with different defense mechanisms, into adapted varieties. The main objective of this research was to evaluate three spring wheat cultivars grown in Kazakhstan and the mutant lines of spring wheat (M3 generations) developed on their genetic background by irradiation treatment (100 and 200 γ rays) for their resistance to Fusarium head blight disease and to use PCR-based DNA markers, such as SSRs markers to investigate genetic diversity in wheat germplasm. Significant differences in tolerance phenotype to Fusarium head blight were found among wheat cultivars and mutant lines. Comparing parent cv “Zhenis” M3 mutant lines, № 6(15), № 6(16) and 22(1) had the highest means of Fusarium resistance at 15-day after the inoculation. M3 mutant lines, №89(4) developed on base of cv. “Almaken” can be identified as FHB-tolerant. Three M3 mutant lines obtained on genetic background of cv. “Erithrospermum-35” №110(1), №129(3) and №150(5) had higher level of Fusarium tolerance then parent cultivar. A total of 21 SSRs loci were used to determine genetic diversity among M3 spring wheat lines and non-mutagenized plants.