Registration of a bread wheat recombinant inbred line mapping population derived from a cross between ‘Harry’ and ‘Wesley’

The hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) ‘Harry’ × ‘Wesley’ mapping population (Reg. No. MP-9, NSL 523949 MAP) consists of 203 recombinant inbred lines and was developed at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The mapping population (F6:11) was derived from a cross between Harry (drought tolerant) and Wesley (drought susceptible) wheat cultivars using the single-seed descent method. The primary goal in developing this mapping population was to identify genomic regions associated with agronomic traits in response to drought in the Harry and Wesley cultivars. The population segregates for a number of traits, including chaff color, leaf waxiness, flowering date, plant height, grain yield, yield component traits, and resistance to tan spot. A wide range of phenotypic diversity among individuals and transgressive segregation were observed for all segregating traits. The mapping population was genotyped using the genotyping-by-sequencing approach, and a high-density linkage map developed. The quality and accuracy of the linkage map have been confirmed by mapping known genomic regions for two highly heritable traits, chaff color and leaf cuticular wax. The mapping population is an important germplasm resource that will provide wheat breeders with a diverse set of lines in combination with a high-density genetic map that can be utilized to identify genomic regions at high mapping resolution and breed for drought tolerance and wider adaptation in the US Great Plains.