Ip. King et al., AN ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL OF 4DS.4DL-4S(L)L TRANSLOCATION LINES AS A MEANS OF ELIMINATING TALL OFF TYPES IN SEMIDWARF WHEAT-VARIETIES, Euphytica, 89(1), 1996, pp. 103-106
Wheat varieties tend to be chromosomally unstable producing on average
2-3% of plants with abnormal chromosome numbers. A number of semi dwa
rf wheat varieties, carrying the gibberellic acid insensitive dwarfing
genes Rht1 or Rht2, have been seen to produce distinct tall off types
due to reduction in dosage of the chromosome carrying the dwarfing ge
ne. The UK variety 'Brigand', carrying Rht2 on chromosome 4D, produced
very distinct tall off types when this chromosome was reduced in dosa
ge. The frequency of tall off types was sufficiently high to cause the
variety to fail United Kingdom statutory uniformity tests. An attempt
to prevent the loss of chromosome 4D was made by constructing translo
cation chromosomes involving the short arm of chromosome 4D, which car
ries Rht2, and the long arm of chromosome 4S(l) from Aegilops sharonen
sis, which carries a gene(s) conferring preferential transmission. The
work in this paper describes the field evaluation of two lines carryi
ng 4DS.4DL-4S(l)L translocations, and demonstrates their success in pr
eventing spontaneously occurring monosomy of chromsome 4D in semi-dwar
f wheats.