AGRONOMIC AND GRAIN QUALITY EVALUATIONS OF TRITICUM-AESTIVUM X AEGILOPS-TAUSCHII BACKCROSS POPULATIONS

Aegilops tauschii Coss., a diploid progenitor of common wheat, Triticu m aestivum L., is a valuable source of pest resistance alleles. Howeve r, interspecific populations generated for pest-resistant germplasm de velopment may contain beneficial alleles for other important traits. T he objective of this research was to evaluate eight agronomic and grai n quality traits in three soft red winter wheat x Ae. tauschii backcro ss populations. A total of 385 BC2F2-derived lines were gown at locati ons in North Carolina and Virginia for two seasons. Grain quality eval uations were conducted at the USDA-ARS Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory. Fifty-four percent of lines did not differ significantly from their re current parent, averaged over all eight traits. In general, distributi ons were negatively skewed for grain yield and test weight and positiv ely skewed for heading date, plant height, flour protein concentration , and alkaline water retention rapacity. Line distributions for flour yield and softness equivalent were population-dependent. Twenty-three lines were significantly superior to their recurrent parent for one or more grain quality traits and similar to the recurrent parent for all remaining traits. Researchers who generate interspecific T. aestivum x Ae. tauschii populations for pest-resistant germplasm development ca n identify lines with beneficial alleles governing other traits in an acceptable cultivated background if the progeny undergo additional scr eening.