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QTL mapping for seedling traits in wheat grown under varying concentrations of N, P and K nutrients

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Abstract

Nutrient use efficiency (NuUE), comprising nutrient uptake and utilization efficiency, is regarded as one of the most important factors for wheat yield. In the present study, six morphological, nine nutrient content and nine nutrient utilization efficiency traits were investigated at the seedling stage using a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs), under hydroponic culture of 12 treatments including single nutrient levels and two- and three-nutrient combinations treatments of N, P and K. For the 12 designed treatments, a total of 380 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on 20 chromosomes for the 24 traits were detected. Of these, 87, 149 and 144 QTLs for morphological, nutrient content and nutrient utilization efficiency traits were found, respectively. Using the data of the average value (AV) across 12 treatments, 70 QTLs were detected for 23 traits. Most QTLs were located in new marker regions. Twenty-six important QTL clusters were mapped on 13 chromosomes, 1A, 1B, 1D, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5D, 6A, 6B, 7A and 7B. Of these, ten clusters involved 147 QTLs (38.7%) for investigated traits, indicating that these 10 loci were more important for the NuUE of N, P and K. We found evidence for cooperative uptake and utilization (CUU) of N, P and K in the early growth period at both the phenotype and QTL level. The correlation coefficients (r) between nutrient content and nutrient utilization efficiency traits for N, P and K were almost all significantly positive correlations. A total of 32 cooperative CUU loci (L1–L32) were found, which included 190 out of the 293 QTLs (64.8%) for the nutrient uptake and utilization efficiency traits, indicating that the CUU-QTLs were common for N, P and K. The CUU-QTLs in L3, L7, L16 and L28 were relatively stable. The CUU-QTLs may explain the CUU phenotype at the QTL level.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Technologies R&D Program (Grant No. 2011BAD35B03) and the Creation and Utilization of Agriculture-Biology Resource of Shandong Province, China. The authors regret that, owing to space limitations, not all of the individuals who participated in the relevant work could be listed. We thank Gui-zhi Zhang, Zhao-liang Qi, Xi-yang Fu and Shui-mei Liang for their assistance with the experimental work and Min-Min Xu, Yi-Han Li, Wen-Liang Yang and De-Yan Peng for measuring the N, P and K concentrations of the tested materials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China

    Ying Guo, Fan-mei Kong, Yan Zhao, Xue Liang, Ying-ying Wang & Si-shen Li

  2. Research Center of Agricultural Resources, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050021, China

    Yun-feng Xu & Diao-guo An

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  1. Ying Guo
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  2. Fan-mei Kong
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  7. Diao-guo An
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  8. Si-shen Li
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Correspondence to Si-shen Li.

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Communicated by A. Charcosset.

Y. Guo and F. M. Kong contributed equally to this work.

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Guo, Y., Kong, Fm., Xu, Yf. et al. QTL mapping for seedling traits in wheat grown under varying concentrations of N, P and K nutrients. Theor Appl Genet 124, 851–865 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1749-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1749-7

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