Xiying Zhang: Mechanisms and Techniques to Improve Farmland Water Use Efficiency

Mapping QTLs for Above-ground and Yield Traits Related to Drought Tolerance in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Yanmei Wang, Suying Chen, Hongyong Sun and Xiying Zhang

The identification of markers linked to genes contributing to drought resistance promises opportunities to breed high yielding wheat varieties for drought prone areas. The study looked at detection of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for aboveground leaf morphological and physiological traits and final yields characters related to drought avoidance for wheat under water deficit and well-watered conditions？？Recombinant inbred lines (RIL) population derived from two wheat varieties with contrasting aboveground drought avoidance traits ‘Xiaoyan54’ X ‘Jing411’was used for QTL analysis？？Plants were grown in field with three replications. Data of 12 above-ground characters was collected from grain-filling stage to mature stage. At grain-filling stage leaves were excised and placed on a balance. The rate of leaf rolling and water loss was recorded, after which flag leaf area, dry weight and specific leaf area and dry weight were measured. At mature stage, yields characters of plant height, spike length, number of tillers per plant, 1000-grain weight, yields per plant and biomass per plant were analyzed. The results

showed that 115 QTLs located on all chromosomes except 1B and 2A were detected and their individual effects were analyzed？？Detection of QTLs for drought avoidance related aboveground traits was sensitive to environment？？QTLs regulating the same given trait were mapped on the same marker interval under both conditions？？implying that these QTLs were insensitive to the environment and can be employed to perform marker assisted selection in breeding, while some QTLs regulating the same given trait were mapped on different marker interval under two water regimes, suggesting there were different QTL expression patterns under different water conditions