Comparative assessment of the yield components of the tetraploid wheat world collection

Abstract

Nowadays, a large number of cultivars of various origins are attracted to the wheat breeding improvement, and as a result, an assessment of the accessions’ yield in various agroclimatic conditions is
required. Genotype-environment interaction is the main reason for the fact that in different years and (or)
in other conditions of cultivation, cultivars and lines differ in rank according to the level of the yield. The
study aims to investigate the suitability and adaptability of accessions of world tetraploid wheat collection, including durum wheat cultivars, to the Kazakhstan conditions. Three hundred twenty-eight (328)
tetraploid wheat accessions of different genetic and geographical origin were grown in 2 randomized
replicates in two contrasting regions of Kazakhstan – Kostanay region on the North and Almaty region
on the South-east of the country. Phenological observations and structural analysis were conducted
following Dospekhov and the Zadoks scale. Correlations coefficients among all characters (days to tillering, days to booting, days to heading, days to anthesis, days to maturity, plant height, peduncle length,
number of fertile spikes per plant, spike length, number of kernels per spike, weight of kernels per spike,
number of kernels per plant, 1000 kernels weight) were computed using GraphPad software. To assess
the contribution of genotypic and environmental variability to the total phenotypic variation of yield and
the main economically valuable traits, we evaluated the genotype-environment interaction. Productive
and adapted accessions for the both Almaty and Kostanay regions were selected. The data of phenological observations and structural analysis will be used in a genome-wide association study for the traits,
related to productivity and quality.
Key words: tetraploid wheat, cultivar, yield, phenology, pre-breeding, genotype x environment interaction.