Genetic Variability in Winter Rye (Secale cereale L.) Accessions at Early Stage of Self-Pollination Manifested through Fertility, Plant Height and Secalins

Abstract

Selection of winter self-pollinated plants with short to medium stem height was initiated in 15 cultivated rye populations. About 8.8% seed set per selfed spike was registered in the first two years. In inbred S2 families, self-fertility varied between 0–73 seeds per isolated ear and plant height ranged from 76 to 115 cm. Response to selection and genetic advance in percent of the mean characterized the S3 families for one cycle of selection. SDS-PAGE gel patterns showed two major protein bands for the rye HMW secalins—one slowly moving x-subunit expressed as 2r, 5.2*r and 5.3r, and the second quickly moving y-subunit, expressed as 6r, 6.5r, 7r and 9r. Regarding alleles in Glu-R1 and Gli-R2 loci, nine progenies appeared to show genetic homogeneity in proteins, supporting by low coefficients of variation for plant height. The HMW compositions 2r (alone band) and 5.3r + 7r, were defined as new secalin subunits. 75 K γ-secalins, encoded at Gli-R2, were composed by alleles a, b, c, for subunits d1, d2 and t1, respectively. The results showed that among all, four selfed rye progenies were considered as homogeneous genotypes and could be used as inbred lines in further genetic and breeding experiments.