Genetic Advance of Durum Wheat Under High Yielding Conditions: The Case of Chile

Alejandro Del Pozo,María Dolores Serret,Dalma Castillo,Kurt Ruf,Ana María Méndez-Espinoza,Iván Matus

doi:10.3390/agronomy9080454

Alejandro Del Pozo, María Dolores Serret + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9080454

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Abstract

In Chile, durum wheat is cultivated in high-yielding Mediterranean environments, therefore breeding programs have selected cultivars with high yield potential in addition to grain quality. The genetic progress in grain yield (GY) between 1964 and 2010 was 72.8 kg ha−1 per year. GY showed a positive and significant correlation with days to heading, kernels per unit ground area and thousand kernel weight. The gluten and protein content tended to decrease with the year of cultivar release. The correlation between the δ13C of kernels and GY was negative and significant (−0.62, p < 0.05, for all cultivars; and −0.97, p < 0.001, excluding the two oldest cultivars). The yield progress (genetic plus agronomic improvements) of a set of 40–46 advanced lines evaluated between 2006 and 2015 was 569 kg ha−1 per year. Unlike other Mediterranean agro-environments, a longer growing cycle together with taller plants seems to be related to the increase in the GY of Chilean durum wheat during recent decades.

Highlights

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum) covers ~17 million hectares worldwide, which is less than 10% of the total wheat area
For agronomic traits of ten durum wheat cultivars cultivated during three growing seasons wheat cultivars cultivated during three growing seasons (2010–2012)
The comparison of advanced lines produced during the last decade (Figure 2) showed a positive correlation between plant height and grain yield (GY). These results suggest that plant height of semi-dwarf wheat below 70–80 cm may limit light interception and canopy photosynthesis and yield potential in high-yielding environments

Summary

Introduction

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum) covers ~17 million hectares worldwide, which is less than 10% of the total wheat area. Durum) covers ~17 million hectares worldwide, which is less than 10% of the total wheat area. For the production of high-quality durum wheat, dry environments are necessary, with warm days and cold nights during the growing season so that large grains are obtained with yellow color, vitreous kernels (more than 95%), hard texture and high test weight (about 82 kg hL−1 ), alongside high protein content (greater than 10%) and strong gluten (greater than 30% wet gluten), which gives elasticity to dough for industrial use [2]. In Chile, durum wheat is grown in Mediterranean climate environments from the Valparaíso Region (32 ◦ S) to the Biobio Region (37 ◦ S), but mostly under irrigation conditions or in areas where rainfall is sufficient to satisfy most or all of the crop potential evapotranspiration.

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