Phenotypic Selection and Bulked Sergeant Analysis for 1000-Kernel Weight under Heat Stress in Durum Wheat

Abstract

Divergent phenotypic selection for 1000-kernel weight (TKW) was performed under heat stress in a population of 120 F7 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of durum wheat. The direct response to selection for TKW and correlated response in grain yield per plant (GYP) were assessed under favorable and heat stress conditions. Considerable genetic variations were found among the tested RILs for TKW and GYP. Under heat stress, mean TKW of F7 RILs selected in the high and low directions were 62.28 and 34.42g, respectively. Positive and highly significant responses to selection were obtained for TKW in the high (14.92 and 16.29%) and low (20.78 and 26.88%) directions under favorable and heat stress conditions, respectively. Selection for higher TKW produced positive and highly significant correlated response in GYP under heat stress (11.05%), whereas selection for lower TKW produced positive and highly significant correlated responses in GYP under favorable (11.13%) and heat stress (19.33%) conditions. High realized heritability estimates were obtained for TKW (0.74 and 0.75) and GYP (0.65 and 0.71) under favorable and heat stress conditions, respectively. F8 RILs derived from selection for higher TKW showed higher heat tolerance index (averaged 1.20) than RILs selected for lower TKW (0.52), indicating the usefulness of selection for higher TKW in improving heat tolerance. Bulked segregant analysis with 40 simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers identified seven positives alleles located on 2A (1), 3B (2), 4A (1), 5A (1), 6A (1) and 7B (1) chromosomes that were associated with higher TKW as an indicator for heat tolerance.