Improvement of economically useful features of winter wheat under the effect of technogenic mutagenic factors of the environment

Abstract

Unique conditions of the effect on living organisms of physical and chemical mutagenic factors, which can be used to induce mutations and to create initial breeding material for the improvement of plant cultivars, appeared in the techno-genically contaminated territories. Under the effect of radio-nuclide contaminations of the alienation zone of Chornobyl NPP and the mining and processing territory of uranium ore on winter wheat, heavy metal discharges of industrial enterprises, xenobiotics of the areas of the warehouses with forbidden and unusable pesticides appeared to be higher by 2.1—35.4 times of the frequency of breeding-valuable mutations as compared with the spontaneous growth indicators. The expansion of the genetic diversity of the initial breeding material due to the mutagenesis, induced by radio-nuclide and chemical contamination, creates the conditions for its use in the crossings which are aimed at the implementation of the breeding-genetic programs for the development of highly productive wheat cultivars with the increased adaptive potential for the unfavorable conditions of the environment. Productive mutants which, by their yield capacity, exceed initial cultivars by 1.1—12.6 %, were identified. Most of them have the indicators of protein and gluten content in grain and the indicators of sedimentation and solid grain state which either correspond to the level of the initial cultivar or are significantly behind it. Mutant samples № 5561 of cultivar Albatros odeskyi and samples № 5575 of cultivar Zymoiarka, induced by the discharge contamination from Burshtyn HPP and radio-nuclides of the alienation zone of ChNPP, were identified; their higher yield capacity goes along with a serious increase of the indicators of grain quality or keeping them at the level of the initial cultivar. Mutant samples № 5576, № 5577, № 5578, № 5580 of cultivar Zymoiarka, induced by the soil contamination with radio-nuclides of the alienation zone of ChNNP and by heavy metals of the discharges of industrial enterprises, produce a significantly higher protein output per area unit due to the increase of the grain protein content or higher yield capacity. Using the effect of the techno-genic mutagenic factors of the environment it is possible to improve the indicators of wheat grain quality and at the same time to preserve the potential of the yield capacity of the initial cultivar.