Winter hardiness analysis of wheat-rye 5R(5A)-substituted lines in Western Siberia

Abstract

Homoeologous group 5 chromosomes of wheat possess genes that have a significant influence on the time of earing, growth habit (Vrn), frost resistance (Fr) and winter hardiness. The Vrn-A1/Fr-A1, Vrn-B1/Fr-B1 and Vrn-D1/Fr-D1 genes are assigned to the long arm of the 5A, 5B and 5D chromosomes, respectively. In rye (Secale cereale L.), Vrn-R1/Fr-R1 genes, which determine the growth habit and cold/frost resistance, are localized on chromosome 5RL. To investigate the effect of individual chromosomes on winter hardiness, as well as their interactions with the background, wheat-rye 5R(5A)-substituted lines based on winter and spring wheats were used in this study. We created the wheat-rye 5R(5A) substitution lines based on the winter wheats cvs. ‘Filatovka’ and ‘Ulʼynovka’ and based on the spring wheats cvs. ‘Rang’ and ‘Mironovskaya krupnozernaya’ to identify the role of rye chromosome 5R in controlling the growth habit and winter hardiness. Two cultivars of rye—‘Onokhoiskaya’ (spring habit) and ‘Vietnamskaya Mestnaya’—are the source of chromosome 5R. We do not know the growth habit of rye ‘Vietnamskaya Mestnaya’. Field experiments were carried out over three years during the winters of 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 in the Novosibirsk Region. It was found that 5R(5A) substitution lines for spring cvs. ‘Rang’ and ‘Mironovskaya krupnozernaya’, with the participation of the spring rye ‘Onokhoiskaya’, have a winter habit. The wheat-rye 5R(5A) lines for winter cvs. ‘Ul'yanovka’ and ‘Filatovka’, with the participation of rye ‘Vietnamskaya Mestnaya’, have a facultative habit. These substituted lines can grow in both spring and autumn sowing. The evaluation of winter hardiness conducted was carried out by means of visual scoring on a 1–9 score basis. All wheat-rye-substituted lines survived in the conditions of the Novosibirsk Region. Winter hardiness scores ranged from 5 to 6 after the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 winters, whereas winter hardiness scores varied from 8 to 9 after the 2017/2018 winter.