Cytogenetic Investigations in Wheat, Rye and Triticale

Abstract

AbstractIn two rye cultivars and four inbred lines, derived from two different source populations, the extent of polymorphism in the distribution of constitutive heterochromatin was investigated by means of the Giemsa C‐banding method. Between the source populations only slight differences appeared, therefore a close relationship has to be assumed. Within open‐pollinated cultivars a wide range of variation was found not only for telomeric, but also for interstitial chromosomal bands. Even intracellular polymorphism between homologous chromosomes was observed frequently in cultivars. On the other hand, polymorphism was detected in the lines to a small extent only.Inbred lines show a higher number of constant Interstitial bands than cultivars. In the latter there exist different variants of a certain band, but only one of these variants is manifested in an inbred line drawn from the same source population.Whether this manifestation takes place randomly, or low heterochromatin variants arc preferred, is discussed with regard to the problems of triticale breeding.