Genetic dissection of resistance to diseases in wheat

Plant pathogens seriously affect crop productions worldwide from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. The emergence and spread of new virulent races is even facilitated by the ongoing climatic changes. The development of new genetically resistant cultivars, in particular for durum and bread wheat, represents a protective strategy which is effective and sustainable in terms of economic advantage and respect of the environment. The use of resistant cultivars indeed allows a drastic reduction of fungicide applications in agriculture with a great improvement of quality and security of the end products.