Genetic Analysis of Some Agronomical Traits and Their Relationship with Rht4 Dwarfing Gene in Wheat

One of the most critical aspects in challenging with drought conditions in wheat production areas is that to develop short bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties with long coleoptile by utilizing the giberellic acid sensitive Rht dwarfing genes. . This study aimed to determine the effects of GA sensitive Rht4 semi dwarfing gene on plant height, peduncle length, spike length, coleoptile length, spikelet number and first leaf length in the F₄ population derived from Bsj 14 (Rht4) x Scholar cross. The field experiment was conducted with 75 F₄ lines at 2014-2015 wheat growing season in the experimental fields of Ege University Izmir, Turkey. SSR marker Xwmc317 which is previously defined for Rht4 gene was used to determine the presence of Rht4 gene in the F₄ lines. The segregation of Xwmc317 marker fitted the monogenic inheritance pattern for F₄ generation. As a result of variance analysis, there were significant differences between the 75 F₄ lines in terms of measured traits. However, the marker regression analysis results showed that SSR marker Xwmc317 only explained 7.5% of total variance for spike length while it did not explain the variance between the lines with respect to other five traits. The insignificant relations between the marker results and coleoptile lengths of the lines showed that Rht4 gene could be useful for the wheat breeding programs which aim to develop short varieties with long coleoptile.