USE OF RFLPS TO DETERMINE THE CHROMOSOME COMPOSITION OF TETRAPLOID TRITICALE (A B)(A/B)RR/

Tetraploid triticale, (A/B)(A/B)RR (2n = 28), is a botanical novelty, an amphiploid composed of a diploid rye and a 14 chromosome wheat geno me made up of chromosomes of the A and B genomes of tetraploid wheat. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers were used to e lucidate the chromosome composition of the mixed wheat genome of 35 di fferent tetraploid triticale lines. Of 128 possible A/B chromosome pai r combinations, only 6 were found among these lines. with a prevalence of the 1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, and 7B karyotype. In most triticale li nes stable wheat genomes made up of only homologous A or B genome chro mosome pairs were identified, however, in some lines homoeologous chro mosome pairs were found. In this paper we demonstrate that RFLPs can b e used successfully as an alternative to C-banding for the identificat ion of the chromosome composition of tetraploid triticale and discuss the possible selective advantage of specific chromosome composition.