Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB); caused by several Fusarium species, is an important disease that causes significant losses in bread wheat yield and quality. This investigation aimed to identify the resistance source(s) against FHB of bread wheat in Ethiopia. Fifty-two genotypes (including two checks) had evaluated against the mixture of dominant FHB pathogens (Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum). Percent Fusarium damaged kernel (% FDK) varied from 6.9% to 100%. Out of 52 genotypes screened, genotype 31 was showed highly resistant for diseased spikelets per spike (1.0), resistance for %FDK (6.9%), resistance for disease scores (1.0), and lower AUDPC (20.2), followed by genotype 29, which showed similar response except for the %FDK which was moderately resistant (9.3). This investigation concluded that genotypes 31 and 29 can be used as a source of donors to improve the resistance of Ethiopian bread wheat varieties against FHB disease.