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The development of adapted wheat germplasm is essential so that breeding programs can develop superior cultivars, which was the objective of this research. ND 803 is hard red spring wheat (HRSW; Triticum aestivumL.) line that was developed at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and released by the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES). ND 803 (Reg. No. GP‐947, PI 665931 was derived from the ND2831/FO.2808 cross made at NDSU in fall 1997. ND2831 (‘Sumai3’ [PI 481542]/‘Stoa’ [PI 520297]) is a hard red spring experimental line with good resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB), or scab [caused by Fusarium graminearumSchwabe; telomorph Gibberella zeae(Schwein.) Petch] originating from ‘Sumai3’, which is known to possess the Fhb1quantitative trait locus. Sumai3 is a spring wheat from China that is arguably the most widely used source of resistance to FHB in the world. Stoa is an HRSW cultivar released by NDSU in 1984. FO.2808 (‘Grandin’ [PI 531005]/3/IAS20*4/H567.71//‘Amidon’ [PI 527682]/ND674) is an HRSW line developed by the NDSU HRSW breeding program. Amidon and Grandin are HRSW cultivars released by NDAES in 1988 and 1989, respectively. IAS20*4/H567.71 is a public breeding line received from CIMMYT. ND 803 was produced from a bulk of one purified F5:6plot selected in 2000 at Prosper, ND. ND 803 was released because it combines good agronomic and end‐use quality with resistance to both FHB and leaf diseases.

Providing wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) growers and industry with adapted wheat cultivars with high‐quality attributes is essential for maintaining wheat as a competitive crop in the spring‐wheat growing region of the USA. Therefore, our breeding program aims to develop modern wheat cultivars using both traditional and modern breeding tools. ‘Prosper’ (Reg. No. CV‐1080, PI 662387) hard red spring wheat was developed at North Dakota State University and released jointly by the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station because of its good adaptation to the spring‐wheat‐growing regions in the U.S. North Central Plains. However, the high yield potential of Prosper under high rainfall conditions makes it more adapted mainly to wheat‐growing regions in eastern North Dakota, western Minnesota, and high‐rainfall regions of neighboring states. It has high yield potential and good milling and baking properties. Gene postulation shows that Prosper has the Lr21gene, which confers resistance to leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticinaEriks.). However, 2011 field observations show that Prosper is susceptible to a new race that overcomes the Lr21gene. Prosper is resistant to stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminisPer.:Pers. f. sp. triticiEriks. & E. Henn) and moderately resistant to Fusarium head blight (FHB), or scab [caused by Fusarium graminearumSchwabe; telomorph Gibberella zeae(Schwein.) Petch].

Increased grain protein is desirable for many bread and pasta products. Because of its importance to end‐use quality and human nutrition, this trait has been widely studied. This study was conducted to (i) identify genomic regions associated with high grain protein concentration (GPC) inherited from Triticum turgidumL. var. dicoccoidesin three hard red spring wheat recombinant inbred (RI) populations (ND683/‘Bergen’, ‘Glupro’/‘Keene’, and Glupro/Bergen); (ii) examine the effects of genetic background and environment on these genes; and (iii) determine the genetic size of the Triticum turgidumL. var. dicoccoideschromosomal segment introgressed into hard red spring wheat genotypes. The F5‐derived RI lines were grown at five environments for the ND683/Bergen population and at three environments for the other two populations. The range of GPC in the ND6S3/Bergen, Glupro/Keene, and Glupro/Bergen population was 142 to 179,149 to 182, and 139 to 183 g kg−1, respectively. The four parental genotypes were surveyed for polymorphisms with 96 low copy DNA clones located on group 5 and 6 chromosomes. A single region associated with high GPC was detected with five RFLP markers (Xcdo365, Xmwg79, Xbcdl02, Xbcd357, and Xcdol380) located near the centromere on chromosome 6B. One of the markers (Xcdo365) identified a 6.5‐kb restriction fragment in Triticum turgidumvar. L. dicoccoides, Glupro, ND645, and ND683. Hence, this fragment is in coupling linkage to high GPC gene(s). This marker explained 21 to 35% of the phenotypic variation in GPC in the three populations. The DNA marker in this region might be used to rapidly introgress this gene for high GPC into other wheat germplasm.