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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #94388
Title: AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF LINES DERIVED FROM ANTHER CULTURE, MAIZE POLLINATION, AND SINGLE SEED DESCENT IN A SPRING WHEAT CROSS

Author
item MA, HONG - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item Busch, Robert - Bob
item RIERA LIZARAZU, OSCAR - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item Rines, Howard
item DILL MACKY, RUTH - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/28/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Rapid development of superior varieties of wheat help provide a stable supply of food and a better income for producers. Wheat varieties normally take about 9-12 years to develop. Methods that can shorten this time period are continually researched as possible replacement procedures for presently used methods. After a hybrid is produced from two desirable parents, its offspring must be carefully selected in an attempt to improve them over th parents. It takes at least five generations for plants to be alike generation after generation. Using conventional methods, multiple generations per year can help speed the breeding of new varieties. These are obtained by growing the new hybrid plants in the greenhouse and in warm sites during the winter. Several laboratory methods can be used to produce plants with just half of the original genetic material of a normal wheat plant. By doubling the genetic material, a normal wheat plant is produced which will be alike generation after generation in one step, not multiple generations as required by the conventional method. This can result in saving several years to develop a variety if the laboratory methods provide normally developed wheat plants. We found that one laboratory method (corn pollen) produced normally developed wheat plants while another method did not. However, the corn pollen method produced lower numbers of the good plants. Although the corn pollen method can save several years in developing a variety, it should only be used for urgent populations because of the high cost of obtaining these plants.

Technical Abstract: Anther culture and maize hybridization are two frequently used techniques for doubled haploid production in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Information on field performance of lines derived from these techniques is limited. This study was conducted to compare the performance of F4:6 lines obtained by single seed descent (SSD) method with lines obtained by anther culture (AC) and maize (Zea mays L.) pollination (MP) methods from the sam cross of spring wheat, 'Chris'/MN7529. Thirty-three lines derived from each of these techniques were evaluated in six environments for grain yield, protein content, test weight, heading date, kernel weight, and plant height. The means of the SSD lines were greater than the means of the AC lines for grain yield, kernel weight, and plant height with no apparent differences for the remaining measured traits. No differences between means for the SSD and MP lines for all traits were found except for plant height. Upon comparison of the means of the best five lines for each method for grain yield, protein content, and test weight, the only difference was a higher mean protein content in the MP lines than in the SSD lines. Acceptable levels of agronomic performance could be found among lines from any method. Wide acceptance of doubled haploid techniques for pure lines in breeding programs may be limited by often poor efficiency of doubled haploid line production, resulting in smaller population sizes for selection of desirable traits in comparison to the SSD method.