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Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The development, penetrance, and seed vigour of multi-ovary wheat and its application in hybrid breeding

Jialin Guo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9504-6877 A , Gaisheng Zhang A B , Yulong Song https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2472-5922 A , Shoucai Ma A , Na Niu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7955-0712 A and Junwei Wang A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A National Yangling Agricultural Biotechnology & Breeding Center, Yangling Branch of China Wheat Improvement Centre, Wheat Breeding Engineering Research Center in Ministry of Education, and Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis Research and Utilisation, College of Agronomy, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, P. R. China.

B Corresponding author. Email: zhanggsh58@aliyun.com

Crop and Pasture Science 70(9) 781-788 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP19140
Submitted: 8 April 2019  Accepted: 23 July 2019   Published: 4 October 2019

Abstract

Multi-ovary wheat is a unique variety of wheat that has one to three pistils and three stamens, and can stably set one to three grains in each floret. By observing the developmental process of additional pistils, we found that the additional pistil was derived from a protrusion generated at the base of the main pistil, between the frontal stamen and lateral stamen. The additional pistil’s development was greatly delayed compared with the main pistil at an early stage. However, after the awn exposed stage, it developed very rapidly to a mature pistil within the maturity time of the main pistil. Generally, the grains originating from additional pistils were smaller than the grains from the main pistil. By studying the penetrance and germination conditions of multi-ovary wheat, we found that no matter which ovary the grains originated from, they had the same penetrance. However, the germination ability of grains generated from the main pistil was significantly higher than that of grains from additional pistils. Our results showed that multi-ovary wheat was an excellent variety, not only for studying the mechanisms of the multi-ovary trait and floral development in wheat, but also for improving the propagation coefficient and promoting the progress of wheat breeding. This paper lays a theoretical foundation for the practical application of multi-ovary trait in hybrid wheat; our results could be implemented in fostering future breeding activities focussed on the development of high yield wheat cultivars.

Additional keywords: floral development, germination, multi-ovary, penetrance, seed vigour, Triticum aestivum L.


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