Selection of Wheat Expenmental Lines with Deep and Shallow Root Systems Based on the Growth Angle of Seminal Roots.

Abstract

Deep-rooted and shallow-rooted doubled-haploid lines of wheat were selected based on the root growth angle of seedlings. First, 129 normal growth doubled haploid lines were primary selected from the 535 genetically fixed doubled haploid lines. Secondly, the root growth angle of 7-day-old seedlings was measured by the basket method. Nine lines showing a large angle of root growth from the horizontal and 9 lines showing a small angle were selected and named the D group and S group, respectively. These wheat lines were grown in fields and the root length density in 0-30 cm depth and 0-15 cm distance from the plant base was measured at the late growth stage by an improved monolith method. The root depth index of D group was significantly larger than that in the S group. Moreover specific root length was also larger in the D group. The two groups were not different in tiller number, leaf color, top dry weight and grain yield. The differences found were only in plant height and 1000-grain weight. Therefore, these two groups of wheat lines can be used in further experiments on the growth of wheat with different root depths.