Introgression of Drought Related QTLs into Elite Cultivars

In this study, we aimed to introgress drought related genomic regions identified in two South Australian cultivars into five European elite cultivars. We performed all different possible combinations of crosses. We confirmed the successful introgression of the drought related key regions in seven F1 plants using linked SSR markers. These plants were backcrossed three times until BC3F2, which will be extensively characterized for their yield components and water use efficiency under water limited conditions. With this research, we aim to develop bread wheat cultivars with high field performance in drought prone environments.

 Keywords : drought, wheat, T. aestivum, drought tolerance, breeding, QTL , wheat improvement