New wheat lines carrying alien rust resistance genes.

In wheat improvement programme, it is an universal practice to use promising genotypes/ stocks possessing unique yield component(s) to develop novel wheat lines with better yield potential over the existing cultivars. Since wheat rusts, namely, stem (Puccinia graminis), leaf (P. triticina) and stripe rust (P. striiformis) are the major constraint in wheat production, such material could be immensely useful if these also possessed effective transferable rust resistance gene(s) for incorporation into the new lines. In this communication, an attempt was made to develop new wheat lines with resistance to wheat rusts by involving wheat material carrying rust resistance genes.