The Effect of Parental Genotypes of Rye Lines on the Development of Quantitative Traits in Primary Octoploid Triticale: Plant Height

When breeding the primary spring octoploid triticale derived from crosses of various inbred rye lines to wheat Chinese Spring, the effects of the rye genotype and growth conditions on the plant height and proportion of the first, second, and final (pedicle) internodes to the entire stem length were studied. Two triticale groups were examined: homozygotes for the dominant (Ddw1) and recessive (ddw1) alleles of the gene responsible for short stem in rye. In the short stem triticale lines carrying the Ddw1 alleles, the plants were 20 cm shorter on average than those in the ddw1-carrying lines, and the distribution of the two triticale groups overlapped significantly. In both groups, the lines significantly differing in plant height could be differentiated, because of allelic diversity of the additional genes controlling this trait along with the Ddw gene. In most triticale lines, especially in theDdw1-carrying ones, the plant height was much reduced under unfavorable growth conditions. At the same time, a short-stem line was isolated, which is characterized by ecological plasticity, like the maternal wheat cultivar. In the triticale studied, the stem structure depended on the short-stem rye genotype. The two-year study showed that in the triticale carrying the dominant allele of this gene, the first internode is significantly extended, whereas the upper (pedicle) internode is reduced, which increases plant lodging resistance. The differences revealed between the rye lines as well as their effect on the quantitative triticale traits are discussed in view of a variant of the hybridological analysis, which had been previously proposed for identification and mapping of the correspondent rye genes.