Analysis of the Effects of the <i>Vrn-1</i> and <i>Ppd-1</i> Alleles on Adaptive and Agronomic Traits in Common Wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.)

Abstract

Wheat heading time is primarily governed by two loci: VRN-1 (response to vernalization) and PPD-1 (response to photoperiod). Five sets of near-isogenic lines (NILs) were studied with the aim of investigating the effect of the aforementioned genes on wheat vegetative period duration and 14 yield-related traits. Every NIL was sown in the hydroponic greenhouse of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS. To assess their allelic composition at the VRN-1 and PPD-1 loci, molecular markers were used. It was shown that HT in plants with the Vrn-A1vrn-B1vrn-D1 genotype was reduced by 29 and 21 days (p vrn-A1Vrn-B1vrn-D1 and the vrn-A1vrn-B1Vrn-D1 genotypes, respectively. In our study, we noticed a decrease in spike length as well as spikelet number per spike parameter for some NIL carriers of the Vrn-A1a allele in comparison to carriers of the Vrn-B1 allele. PCA revealed three first principal components (PC), together explaining more than 70% of the data variance. Among the studied genetic traits, the Vrn-A1a and Ppd-D1a alleles showed significant correlations with PCs. Regarding genetic components, significant correlations were calculated between PC3 and Ppd-B1a (−0.26, p Vrn-B1 (0.57, p Vrn-A1a allele affects heading time, while Ppd-D1a is associated with plant height reduction.

Keywords

• common wheat
• <i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.
• <i>Vrn-1</i> alleles
• <i>Ppd-1</i> alleles
• earliness
• yield