Abstract
Ninety percent of wheat varieties grown worldwide have a semi-dwarf phenotype controlled by three major genes Rht-B1 (formerly Rht1), Rht-D1 (formerly Rht2) and Rht8. The objective of this study was to determine their frequency in modern wheat varieties grown in Germany. Ninety-five winter wheat varieties that were registered in Germany in 2004 were screened with PCR-based markers for Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 and with the microsatellite WMS261 for Rht8. The Rht8 allele for plant height reduction was not found in any of the varieties, which confirms previous studies. Rht-B1b or Rht-D1b alleles were present in 44% of the screened varieties, but only 6% contained Rht-B1b, which predominates in northern Europe. Rht-D1b was found in 38% of the varieties, which were planted on 34% of the total area of wheat in Germany. Wheat varieties with Rht-D1b were shorter and higher yielding than wheat varieties without this allele, but more susceptible to Fusarium head blight, which could limit their productivity.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Allan, R.E., Pritchett, J.A. 1980. Registration of 16 lines of club wheat germplasm. Crop Science 20:832–833.
Allan, R.E. 1989. Agronomic comparisons between Rht1 and Rht2 semidwarf genes in winter wheat. Crop Science 29:1103–1108.
Aufhammer, G., Fischbeck, G. 1973. Getreide, Produktionstechnik und Verwertung. dlg Verlag, Frankfurt, pp. 80–88.
BMELV 2006. Besondere Ernte- und Qualitätsermittlung (BEE) 2004. Reihe: Daten-Analysen (http://www.bmelv-statistik.de/data/000EF3316BEE12A9A1216521C0A8D816.0.pdf), visited on 6th of March 2006
Borlaug, N.E. 1968. Wheat breeding and its impact on world food supply. In: Finlay, E.W., Sheperd, K.W. (eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Wheat Genetics Symposium. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, pp. 5–15.
Börner, A., Plaschke, J., Korzun, V., Worland, A.J. 1996. The relationship between the dwarfing genes of wheat and rye. Euphytica 89:69–75.
BSA 2004. Beschreibende Sortenliste 2004. Deutscher Landwirtschaftverlag, Hannover.
Chebotar, S.V., Korzun, V.N., Sivolap, Yu.M. 2001. Allele distribution at locus WMS261 marking the dwarfing gene Rht8 in common wheat varieties of southern Ukraine. Russian Journal of Genetics 37:894–898.
Ellis, M.H., Spielmeyer, W., Gale, M.D., Rebetzke, G.J., Richards, R.A. 2002. “Perfect” markers for the Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b dwarfing genes in wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 105:1038–1042.
Gale, M.D., Marshall, G.A. 1976. The chromosomal location of Gai1 and Rht1 genes for gibberelline insensitivity and semi-dwarfism, in a derivative of Norin 10 wheat. Heredity 37:283–289.
Gale, M.D., Youssefian, S. 1985. Dwarfing genes in wheat. In: Russell, G.E. (ed), Progress in Plant Breeding. Butterworths, London, pp. 1–35.
Herdt, R.W. 1998: The life and work of Norman Borlaug, Nobel Laureate. (http://www.rockfound.org/Library/The_Life_and_Work_of_Norman_Borlaug,_Nobel_Laureate.pdf), visited on 1st of December 2005
Korzun, V., Röder, M.S., Ganal, M.W., Worland, A.J., Law, C.N. 1998. Genetic analysis of the dwarfing gene (Rht8) in wheat. Part I. Molecular mapping of Rht8 on the short arm of chromosome 2D of bread wheat (Triticium aestivum L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics 96:1104–1109.
McIntosh, R.A. 1998. A catalogue for gene symbols for wheat. In: McIntosh, R.A., Hart, G.E., Devos, K.M., Gale, M.D., Rogers, W.J. (eds), Proceedings 9th International Wheat Genetics Symposium. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, pp. 1225–1323.
Mesterhazy, A. 1995. Types and components of resistance to Fusarium head blight of wheat. Plant Breeding 114:377–386.
Rogowsky, P.M., Guidet, F.L.Y., Langridge, P., Shepherd, K.W., Koebner, R.M.D. 1991. Isolation and characterization of wheat-rye recombinants involving chromosome arm 1DS of wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 82:537–544.
Snape, J.W., Law, C.N., Worland, A.J. 1977. Whole chromosome analysis of height in wheat. Heredity 38:25–36.
Welsh, J.R., Keim, D.L., Pirasteh, B., Richards, R.D. 1973. Genetic control of photoperiodic response in wheat. In: Sears, E.R., Sears, L.M.S. (eds.), Proceedings 4th International Wheat Genetics Symposium, University of Missouri, Columbia, pp. 879–884.
Worland, A.J., Law, C.N., Petrovic, S. 1988. Pleiotropic effects of the chromosome 2D genes Ppd1, Rht8 and Yr16. In: Miller, T.E., Koebner, R.M.D. (eds.), Proceedings 7th International Wheat Genetics Symposium, Institut of Plant Science Research, Cambridge, pp. 669–674.
Worland, A.J., Börner, A., Korzun, V., Li, W.M., Petrovic, S., Sayers, E.J. 1998a. The influence of photoperiod genes on the adaptability of European winter wheat. Euphytica 100:385–394.
Worland, A.J., Korzun, V., Röder, M.S., Ganal, M.W., Law, C.N. 1998b. Genetic analysis of the dwarfing gene Rht8 in wheat. Part II. The distribution and adaptive significance of allelic variants at the Rht8 locus of wheat as revealed by microsatellite screening. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 96:1110–1120.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Knopf, C., Becker, H., Ebmeyer, E. et al. Occurrence of Three Dwarfing Rht Genes in German Winter Wheat Varieties. CEREAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS 36, 553–560 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1556/CRC.36.2008.4.4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/CRC.36.2008.4.4