Wednesday, 9 November 2005 - 9:00 AM
229-3

Grain Shattering in Wheat: Evaluation Methods, Association with Agronomic Traits, and Qtl's Identification.

Guorong Zhang1, Mohamed Mergoum1, Robert W. Stack1, Blaine G. Schatz1, and James Anderson2. (1) North Dakota State University, Plant Sciences Department, Loftsgard Hall, P. O. Box 5051, Fargo, ND 58105, (2) University of MN, Dept. of Agron. & Plant Genet., Borlaug Hall, St. Paul, MN 55108

A study with the objective to evaluate grain shattering in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using several evaluation methods was conducted in North Dakota (ND). The methods were developed based on 36 wheat genotypes. Two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations were studied to confirm the effectiveness of some evaluation methods and to identify QTLs for grain shattering resistance. The methods we applied on RIL populations include particularly, two field methods (direct counting grain lost from the spikes and visual score of grain shattering) and two laboratory methods (one based glumes strength test and the other based on induced random impact test). In addition to the evaluation of the two RIL populations' shattering to confirm the effectiveness these evaluation methods, several agronomic traits, including heading date, plant height, kernel weight, glume pair angle, spikelet density, and open floret percentage, were measured to determine the relationship between the agronomic traits and grain shattering. The results showed that: (1) the four evaluation methods were significantly correlated; (2) glume pair angle, open floret percentage and spikelet density were significantly correlated with shattering resistance; (3) high variation of shattering resistance among RILs were found. The QTLs' identification for grain shattering resistance is being conducted and the results will be reported.

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