*Article* **Effectiveness of** *TaDreb-B1* **and** *1-FEH w3* **KASP Markers in Spring and Winter Wheat Populations for Marker-Assisted Selection to Improve Drought Tolerance**

**Shamseldeen Eltaher <sup>1</sup> , Mostafa Hashem <sup>2</sup> , Asmaa A. M. Ahmed <sup>2</sup> , P. Stephen Baenziger <sup>3</sup> , Andreas Börner <sup>4</sup> and Ahmed Sallam 2,4,\***


**Abstract:** Due to the advances in DNA markers, kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers could accelerate breeding programs and genetically improve drought tolerance. Two previously reported KASP markers, *TaDreb-B1* and *1-FEH w3*, were investigated in this study for the markerassisted selection (MAS) of drought tolerance. Two highly diverse spring and winter wheat populations were genotyped using these two KASP markers. The same populations were evaluated for drought tolerance at seedling (drought stress) and reproductive (normal and drought stress) growth stages. The single-marker analysis revealed a high significant association between the target allele of *1-FEH w3* and drought susceptibility in the spring population, while the marker–trait association was not significant in the winter population. The *TaDreb-B1* marker did not have any highly significant association with seedling traits, except the sum of leaf wilting in the spring population. For field experiments, SMA revealed very few negative and significant associations between the target allele of the two markers and yield traits under both conditions. The results of this study revealed that the use of *TaDreb-B1* provided better consistency in improving drought tolerance than *1-FEH w3*.

**Keywords:** kompetitive allele-specific PCR; genetic validation; water deficit; MAS
