EVALUATING PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS TO COMPLEMENT EMPIRICAL SELECTION FORWHEAT IN WARM ENVIRONMENTS (REPRINTED FROM WHEAT - PROSPECTS FOR GLOBAL IMPROVEMENT, 1998)

The response of spring wheat to heat stress has been determined in sev eral hot wheat growing environments worldwide on different types of ge rmplasm. Physiological data has been collected to identify potential t raits to assist in the empirical breeding for heat tolerance. Initial studies focused on 10 established varieties to determine genetic diver sity for heat tolerance, identify association between heat tolerance a nd traits measured, and evaluate genotype by environment interaction ( G x E). Yields from over 40 hot environments were analysed for G x E, and relative humidity (RH) was identified as the major factor determin ing relative genotype ranking. Further analysis focused on 16 environm ents: those with low RH and relatively high yields, i.e., over 2.5 t h a(-1). For these environments, mean yield of lines correlated with a n umber of physiological traits measured in Mexico, including canopy tem perature depression (CTD), membrane thermostability, leaf conductance and photosynthetic rate at heading, chlorophyll content during grainfi lling, leaf internal CO2 concentration, and dark respiration. Morpholo gical traits were measured in all environments and the following showe d associations with yield: above ground biomass at maturity, days from emergence to anthesis and to maturity, grain number m(-2), and ground cover estimated visually after heading. Subsequent studies focused on breeding material, namely recombinant inbred lines derived from cross es between parents of contrasting heat tolerance, and 60 advanced bree ding lines selected for performance under heat stress. The genetic bas is for association between heat tolerance and CTD was established by d emonstrating a correlation between the two traits in RILs (recombinant inbred lines). Data from RILs, as well as from the 60 advanced lines grown at several international locations, indicated CTD to be a powerf ul and robust selection criterion for heat tolerance.