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Phenotypic and genetic analysis to identify secondary physiological traits for improving grain yield in wheat considering anthesis time variability

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Abstract

Identification of secondary traits in mapping populations is usually hindered by the strong effect of anthesis time. Thus, considering the variability in time to anthesis in combination with an accurate phenotyping of mapping populations and available molecular tools is a possible way for recognising secondary traits to improve yield potential. The aim of this work was to identify secondary traits to perform indirect selection for grain yield (GY) in a bread wheat mapping population consisting of 124 doubled haploid lines, derived from the cross between two soft red winter wheat genotypes with contrasting photoperiod response. Genomic regions linked to different traits were analysed under two environments. The population showed a strong effect of time to anthesis over GY, as expected. A large variability in GY was observed but only two QTLs were detected on chromosome 5A for this trait, which co-localized with QTLs of time to anthesis. GY variation was partially associated with above-ground dry matter at maturity (AGDM) and to a lesser extent with harvest index (HI). Detected QTLs for grains per m2 (GN), grain weight, AGDM and HI explained between 25 and 61% of the GY additive genetic variance. GN, defined as the product between spike dry weight at anthesis (SDW) and fruiting efficiency (FE), was the main numerical component that explained most of the variation in GY. Five QTLs were detected for SDW, which did not co-localize with QTLs of time to anthesis and captured ca. 50% of the additive genetic variance, while there was a weak relationship between NG and FE. When genotypes were filtered by similar anthesis time and plant height, SDW was identified as a promising secondary trait to be targeted for indirect selection of GY.

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Abbreviations

AGDM:

Above-ground dry matter at maturity (g m−2)

AGDM-AN:

Above-ground dry matter at anthesis (g m−2)

CGR-AN:

Crop growth rate during pre-anthesis (g m−2 °Cd−1)

EM-AN:

Duration of the phase from emergence to anthesis (days or °Cd)

EM-FL:

Duration of the phase from emergence to flag leaf appearance (days or °Cd)

FE:

Fruiting efficiency (grains g−1)

FL-AN:

Duration of the phase from flag leaf appearance to anthesis (days or °Cd)

GN:

Number of grains per m2 (grains m−2)

GW:

Grain weight (mg grain−1)

GY:

Grain yield (g m−2)

HI:

Harvest index

HI-AN:

Harvest index at anthesis

PH:

Plant height at maturity (cm)

SDW:

Spike dry weight at anthesis (g m−2)

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Acknowledgements

We thank the valuable assistance of P. Izaguirre, G. Palazesi, and J. Peregalli and, particularly, J. Fuentes and M. Rodríguez. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the University of Buenos Aires (UBACYT 20020160100112).

Funding

Funding was provided by Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica, Universidad de Buenos Aires.

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Author notes

  1. L. Gabriela Abeledo and Santiago Alvarez Prado have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Producción Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    L. Gabriela Abeledo, Santiago Alvarez Prado & Daniel J. Miralles

  2. CONICET, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    L. Gabriela Abeledo & Santiago Alvarez Prado

  3. LEPSE, INRA, University of Montpellier, 34060, Montpellier, France

    Santiago Alvarez Prado

  4. IFEVA - CONICET, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Santiago Alvarez Prado & Daniel J. Miralles

  5. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Laura E. Puhl

  6. Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, 2102 Plant Sci. Bldg., College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Yaopeng Zhou

  7. USDA-ARS, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue GWCC 4-2232, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Jose M. Costa

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  1. L. Gabriela Abeledo
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Abeledo, L.G., Alvarez Prado, S., Puhl, L.E. et al. Phenotypic and genetic analysis to identify secondary physiological traits for improving grain yield in wheat considering anthesis time variability. Euphytica 215, 171 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-019-2494-2

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