The storage proteins in wheat, particularly the high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), play crucial roles in the processing of flour and the quality of bread made from common wheat. These subunits are encoded by the
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Bread wheat
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Six durum and twelve bread wheat genotypes were evaluated under favorable and drought-stressed field conditions, and screened with thirty simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. The traits studied were stomata frequency (STF), relative water content (RWC), flag leaf area (FLA), flag leaf weight (FLW), flag leaf dry matter content (FLD), chlorophyll a content (Chl.a), chlorophyll b content (Chl.b), grain yield/plant (GYP) and 1000-kerenl weight (TKW). Highly significant differences were observed among wheat genotypes for all the traits, indicating considerable genetic variation. Moderate to high broad-sense heritability estimates were observed for the studied traits. Under drought stress, GYP was positively correlated with RWC, FLA, FLW and TKW, whereas negatively correlated with STF. G3 (Svevo) and G6 (WK-12-1) were the most drought-tolerant durum wheat, whereas G11 (L.S-15) and G16 (SIDS-1) were the most drought-tolerant bread wheat genotypes. SSR markers analysis indicated considerable genetic variation between and within durum and bread wheat genotypes. The percentage of polymorphism ranged from 14.3% (Xgwm174-5D) to 100% (Xgwm294-2A and Xgwm573-7B), with an average of 61.4%. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.20 (Xwmc596-7A) to 0.48 (Xgwm294-2A), with an average of 0.33.The highest polymorphism (77.1%) was observed in the B genome followed by A (57.8%) and D (50.0%) genomes. Cluster analysis based on phenotypic data distinguished the most drought-tolerant genotypes (G6 and G11) from the remaining genotypes. Cluster analysis based on SSR markers distinguished durum from bread wheat genotypes. The study indicated that phenotypic data and SSR markers were effective in assessing the genetic diversity in the studied genotypes.
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Two consecutive cycles of selection were imposed on five F2 populations of bread wheat. The first cycle was a divergent selection for spike length conducted in favorable environment (optimal sowing date) and the response was measured under favorable and heat stress conditions of a late sowing date. Positive responses to selection for longer spikes were obtained under favorable (13.43%) heat stress (8.66%) conditions, whereas the responses for shorter spikes were 2.24 and 5.02% in the two environments, respectively. The realized heritability of spike length was greater under favorable conditions (0.25–0.56) than under heat stress (0.18–0.41). Concurrent positive responses to selection for longer spikes were obtained in grain yield per spike under favorable (25.35%) and heat stress (13.65%) environments. Selection for greater number of grains per spike imposed on F3 plants selected for spike length under heat stress resulted in significant responses (14.65%). Selection for greater number of grains per spike resulted in correlated responses in grain yield per spike (17.64%). The concurrent positive responses produced in spike length in F4 with selection for number of grains per spike (averaged 9.20%) was almost equal to that produced by the direct selection in F3 (8.66%), indicating that selection advance effected in F3 has been maintained in F4. High F4/F3 regression was obtained for spike length under heat stress (b = 0.85 ± 0.07), indicating high heritability. In conclusion, phenotypic selection for longer spikes under heat stress followed by a cycle of selection for number of grains per spike was capable of improving heat tolerance in wheat.
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Drought is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting wheat production and development of tolerant genotypes is limited by the lack of effective selection criteria. A genetic analysis of drought tolerance indices at seedling stage (i.e. root length, shoot length, root/shoot ratio and seedling dry weight) was performed for a seven-parent half diallel cross of bread wheat (
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