Breeding effect of introgression into chromosome 5D of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from the species Aegilops tauschii Coss.

Roots are an integral part of the plant organism. This is the main organ that records the soil water status and transmits signals to the shoot. The architecture of the root system determines strong rooting of the plant and effective absorption of nutrients and water from the soil. In wheat (Triticum aestivum L., genomic formula AABBDD), the genes that determine the parameters of the root system are still unknown. It was shown that synthetic wheats obtained using the species Aegilops tauschii Coss. have a large root system. The single chromosome substitution line of Chinese Spring (CS) variety, carrying 5D chromosome from a synthetic wheat has a large root system. On its basis, recombinant (introgressed) lines were obtained that carry fragments of chromosome 5D of Ae. tauschii and have a large length and weight of roots (see Fig. 1 and Table 1). The breeding goal of our studies was to transfer this valuable trait to the spring variety Saratovskaya 29 (S29) with a small root system. In the course of successive selections form hybrids between S29 and IL 5D-5 line, early maturing families with a large root system were obtained. Their average root length was 1.4 times higher than that of S29, and their weight was more than three times greater (see Table 2). At the same time, the lines showed a grain weight per plant two to five times greater than that of S29 while maintaining the thousand-grain weight at the level of the parent variety. Most of the lines inherited a high protein and gluten content in grain. The presence of such a gene in this region of introgression in chromosome 5D was predicted earlier. One of the lines, along with a powerful root system and high gluten content, demonstrated excellent physical properties of flour and dough and may be classified as a strong wheat. The article contains 1 Figure, 2 Tables, 6 References. The Authors declare no conflict of interest.