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Dr. Lily Tamburic-Ilincic

Degrees

  • Ph. D.- Plant breeding and Genetics - University of Guelph, Canada
  • M.Sc. -Plant Pathology – University of Belgrade, Serbia
  • B.Sc.- Crop Science – University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Research Interests

  • Breeding soft (pastry) and hard (bread) winter wheat for Eastern Canada
  • Evaluation of winter wheat for Southwestern Ontario (Performance and Registration trials)
  • Development and characterization of winter wheat populations for molecular marker studies
  • Identification and development of winter wheat germplasm with resistance to fusarium head blight (FHB) and tolerance to deoxynivalenol (DON)
  • Variety responses to FHB resistance and tolerance to DON in winter wheat
  • Pyramiding FHB genes from different sources of resistance using conventional breeding and biotechnology
  • Leaf diseases in cereals and their management
  • Aggressiveness and DON production of isolates of Fusarium graminearum

Recent or Current Projects

1) A Cooperative Approach to Improving Canadian Eastern Soft Red Winter Wheat (CESRW) to Strengthen Agriculture Sector Resilience. 2023-2028. Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic, Dr. Booker, Dr. Humphreys. Sponsor-Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC).

  • Goal is development of Soft Red Winter (SRW) wheat cultivars adapted to Eastern Canada with high yield (yield stability), better winter hardiness, and superior disease resistance. Developed cultivars will lead to reduced yield losses, increased yield potential, and increased winter wheat planted acreage, overall increasing winter wheat production.

 

2) A collaborative approach to genomic selection in winter wheat to accelerate improvement of complex traits. 2023-2028. Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic, Dr. McElroy, Dr. Booker, Dr. Humphreys. Sponsor-Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC).

  • The present study characterized the Eastern Winter Wheat Genomic Selection (EWGS) panel of 352 varieties and breeding lines from four public winter wheat breeding programs in Eastern Canada. The EWGS panel was genotyped using 20 Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers linked to key agronomic, disease resistance, and end-use quality traits.

 

3) Integrating disease resistance into high-yielding SRW germplasm”. 2025-2027. Dr. McElroy, Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic. Sponsor-GFO and Mitacs Accelerate:

  • This study evaluates: a) a new potential source of fusarium head blight resistance (AAC Harfang) and its suitability for integration into soft red winter wheat germplasm, and b) the effectiveness of current molecular markers on integrating FHB resistance from AAC Harfang into soft red winter wheat material

 

4) Understanding the fitness of Fusarium graminearum isolates, after inoculation, and the impact of environment towards the identification of commercial winter wheat varieties with consistently low DON levels. 2024-2026. Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic, Dr. Booker. Sponsor-GFO.

  • This study evaluates: a) wheat cultivar and isolate interactions to improve FHB resistance and DON management and b) weather data from Ridgetown, Elora, and Ottawa to understand the environmental impacts on FHB and DON accumulation.

 

5) Winter wheat germplasm and cultivar development, with increased resistance to Fusarium head blight, leaf diseases and tolerance to abiotic factors, for Ontario industry and growers. 2025-2029. Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic. Sponsor-ARIO-IBRP.

  • Goal is development of Canadian Eastern soft red winter wheat cultivars, with higher yield than official OCCC checks, required quality, and increased resistance to diseases. Additionally, a goal is to develop FHB resistant germplasm with combined fhb1, fhb2 and fhb5 genes. The parents with desired FHB genes, will be selected with KASP markers and screened phenotypically. Progeny will be developed and used in the future crosses and cultivar development.

 

6) Ontario Cereal Crop Committee (OCCC) Winter Wheat Variety Performance and Orthogonal Trials. 2024-2026. Dr. Ljiljana Tamburic-IIincic. Sponsor- OCCC, OMAF (Tier 5).

  • The Winter Wheat Performance and Orthogonal trials are conducted under the direction of the Ontario Cereal Crop Committee (OCCC) and its guidelines (www.gocrops.ca). The objective of the Performance trials is to evaluate varieties that are, or will be, marketed in Ontario. The objective of the Orthogonal trial is to evaluate candidate varieties, in comparison with established checks, prior to support for variety registration by the OCCC (registration trials).

Refereed Publications

View the complete list of Dr. Lily Tamburic-Ilincic’s scientific publications on Google Scholar.

Selected Publications

  • Neupane, A, Tamburic-Ilincic, L., Brûlé-Babel, A, McCartney, C. 2025. “Genetic improvement of FHB and DON resistance by combining the Fhb1 gene with additional resistance QTL in winter wheat population”. Plant Genome. Vol, 18, Issue 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.70084
  • Tamburic-Ilincic, L. 2025. “The effect of Fusarium graminearum 3-ADON and 15-ADON isolates, on Fusarium head blight symptoms, Fusarium damaged kernels and mycotoxins production, in inoculated and field grown winter wheat”. CJPS. 105. 1-10 (2025) https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1139/cjps-2025-0032
  • Neupane, A., Tamburic-llincic, L., Brûlé-Babel, A. McCartney, C. 2024. “QTL analysis of native Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol resistance in ‘D8006W’/’Superior’, soft white winter wheat population”. BMC Plant Biol 24, 852 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-024-05536-0
  • Tamburic-Ilincic, L 2021.12W932-349 Soft red winter wheat. CJPS. doi/10.1139/cjps-2021-0088
  • Tamburic-Ilincic, Lily; Barcelos Rosa, S. 2019. QTL Mapping of Fusarium Head Blight and Septoria tritici blotch in an elite hard red winter wheat population. Molecular breeding. Vol, 39, Issue 7, Article 94
  • L. Tamburic-llincic, S. Barcelos Rosa. 2017. Alleles on two dwarfing loci on 4B and 4D are main drivers of FHB-related traits in the Canadian winter wheat population ‘Vienna’ x ‘25R47’. 2017, Plant Breeding. Vol, 136, Issue 6, 799-808
  • Burlakoti, Rishi; Tamburic-Ilincic, Lily; Limay-Rios, Victor; Burlakoti, Pragyan. 2017. Comparative population structure and trichothecene mycotoxin profiling of Fusarium graminearum from Corn and Wheat in Ontario, Central Canada. Plant Pathology. Plant Pathology (2017) 66, 14–27
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Ashley Wragg and Art Schaafsma. 2015. Mycotoxins accumulation and Fusarium graminearum chemotype diversity in winter wheat grown in Southwestern Ontario. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 931-938
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic and Arend Smid. 2015. Marker, soft red winter wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95 (5): 1029-1031
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic and Arend Smid. 2015. UGRC Ring, soft red winter wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95 (5): 1033-1035
  • Tamburic-Ilincic, L, J. Brinkman, E. Sparry and D C Hooker.2014. Optimizing inputs for winter durum wheat in Ontario. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95(2): 361-368
  • Chami C. Amarasinghe, Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Jeannie Gilbert, Anita L. Brûlé-Babel & W. G. Dilantha Fernando. 2013. Evaluation of different fungicides for control of fusarium head blight in wheat inoculated with 3ADON and 15ADON chemotypes of Fusarium graminearum in Canada. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology (2013), 35 (2): 200-208
  • Aynur Gunenc, Mehri HadiNezhad, Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Paul M. Mayer, Farah Hosseinian. 2013. Effects of region and cultivar on alkylresorcinols content and composition in wheat bran and their antioxidant activity. Journal of Cereal Science; 57(3):405–410. DOI:10.1016/j.jcs.01.003
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic and Arend Smid. 2013. OAC Flight, soft red winter wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93(6):1261-1263
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic and Arend Smid. 2013. OAC Emmy, soft white winter wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 1-3. doi:10.4141/CJPS2012-059
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic. 2012. Effect of 3B, 5A and 3A QTL for Fusarium head blight resistance on agronomic and quality performance of Canadian winter wheat. Plant Breeding. Vol 131 Issue 6, 722-727
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Arend Smid, and Carl Griffey. 2012. OAC Amber, winter durum wheat Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 973-975. doi:10.4141/CJPS2011-164
  • Tamburic-Ilincic L., Falk. D.E., Schaafsma, A. 2011. Fusarium ratings in Ontario Winter Wheat Performance Trial (OWWPT) using an index that combines Fusarium head blight symptoms and deoxynivalenol levels. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 47: S115–S122
  • Groth, J., L. Tamburic-Ilincic, A. Schaafsma, A. Brûlé-Babel and L. Hartl. 2011. Comparison of FHB resistance donors and cultivars from Canada and Europe. Cereal Research Communication. 39 (2), pp. 189–199 (2011), DOI: 10.1556/CRC.39.2011.2.3
  • Von der Ohe, C. , V. Gauthier, L. Tamburic- Ilincic, A. Brule-Babel, W.G. D. Fernando, R. Clear, T. J. Ward and T. Miedaner. 2010. A comparison of aggressiveness and deoxynivalenol production between Canadian Fusarium graminearum isolates with 3-acetyl and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol chemotypes in field-grown spring wheat. European Journal of Plant Pathology. Vol. 127, N. 3: 407-417
  • Tamburic-Ilincic L., 2010. Fusarium species and mycotoxins associated with oat in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci. 90: 211-216

Selected Presentations and Reports

 

  • L. Tamburic-Ilincic. 2026. Update on winter wheat breeding and Fusarium head blight research at Ridgetown. OCCC Research Activity Reports. January 19, 2026.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2024. Breeding winter wheat for Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) resistance in Canada. National FHB Forum. Austin, Texas. December 8-10, 2024. Invited presentation.
  • L. Tamburic-Ilincic, Cody Thornhill, Julia Phan, Zahra Pourkhorshid. 2024. The effect of Fusarium graminearum 3-ADON, 15-ADON isolates and their mixtures, on FHB symptoms, Fusarium damaged kernels and Deoxynivalenol production in winter wheat. P8. 6th ISFHB. Niagara Falls. October 21-24, 2024.
  • Michel McElroy, Sylvie Cloutier, Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Gavin Humphreys, Helen Booker, and Frank M. You. 2024. Major Fusarium resistance allele frequency of Eastern Canadian winter wheat breeding programs and potential impacts on FHB resistance improvement. P44. 6th ISFHB. Niagara Falls. October 21-24,2024.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2024. Breeding Canadian Eastern Soft Red Winter Wheat (CESRW), challenges and approaches for cultivar and germplasm development.  University of Manitoba, Department of Plant Science, February 8, 2024. Invited presentation.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2023. Evaluation of winter wheat for FHB resistance and Deoxynivalenol level  in Ontario, Canada. ISPP 2023. Poster and Flash talk presentation. Lyon, France. August 20-25, 2023.
  • Tamburic-Ilnicic L. 2023. Presentation to Cereal Field Crop Research Alliance (CFCRA) representatives on winter wheat agronomic trails and Fusarium nursery evaluation at Elora Research Station, Elora, ON, August 2, 2023
  • Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, Helen Booker. 2023.The Influence of Genotype, Environment and their Interaction on the Performance of Canada Eastern Soft Red Winter Wheat. November 13-17, 2023.Vancouver, BC.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2023. The effect of fungicides, cultivars and seeding rates on stripe rust level, yield and quality of winter wheat. The 2023 Canadian Tri-Society Meeting. Poster presentation. June 17-21, 2023.  Ottawa.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. Neupane, A. 2023. Progress in breeding winter wheat with increased resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB) and deoxynivalenol (DON) level. The 2023 Canadian Tri-Society Meeting. Poster presentation. June 17-21, 2023.  Ottawa.
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2023. Fusarium head blight index and Deoxynivalenol level in Ontario Winter Wheat Performance Trial from Ridgetown inoculated nursery. Great Lakes Wheat Workers (GLWW) meeting. March 15, 2023. Wooster, Ohio (via Zoom).
  • Tamburic-Ilincic  L. 2023. Progress in breeding Winter Wheat for FHB and DON resistance. OCCC Research Activity Reports. January 23, 2023