Wheat occupies the largest global harvested area of any crop, most of which has been affected by abiotic stress. Root features are challenging to enhance through conventional selection strategies, and therefore, molecular approaches such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may help overcome some of the limitations. In the current study, 170 elite spring wheat lines were studied for root and shoot characteristics under water-stress and non-stress environments in two replications of field soil tubes. Root and shoot phenotypes especially network root length, network root volume and plant highest showed significant decrease under water-stress in contrast with well-watered condition. Also, the studied factors revealed distinct aspects of the population, which are called “root development”, “deep rooting system”, “plant vigor”, and “spike properties” via principal component analysis (PCA). The population was genotyped using 90 K Illumina SNPs and a total of 14,968 markers used in GWAS. In total, 186 significant marker-trait associations were identified on 16 chromosomes, some of which confirmed previously reported loci for root length. Several new loci affecting root development in wheat were identified in the present study. Several MTAs on specific chromosomes were identified exclusively under well-watered condition as well as water-stress environment, particularly 58 significant ones related to the root development component. The most significant associations were found for the deep rooting component. Also, candidate loci were identified having significant effect on different aspects of the studied population particularly the deep rooting system and the root development under water-stress environment. The candidate SNPs identified in the current study were validated by the whole WAMI population's field data, emphasizing the reliability of performed GWAS for identifying loci affecting root quantitative-related traits. These results improve our understanding of the genetic basis of root system architecture under well-watered and water-stressed environments.

小麦占据了所有作物的最大全球收获面积，其中大部分都受到了非生物胁迫的影响。通过传统的选择策略增强根特征具有挑战性，因此，全基因组关联研究 (GWAS) 等分子方法可能有助于克服一些局限性。在目前的研究中，在田间土壤管的两次重复中，研究了 170 个优良春小麦品系在水分胁迫和非胁迫环境下的根和芽特征。与水分充足的条件相比，水分胁迫下根和芽表型，尤其是网络根长度、网络根体积和植株最高值显示出显着下降。此外，研究的因素揭示了种群的不同方面，称为“根发育”、“深根系”、“植物活力”、和通过主成分分析 (PCA) 获得的“尖峰特性”。使用 90 K Illumina SNP 和 GWAS 中使用的总共 14,968 个标记对群体进行基因分型。总共在 16 条染色体上确定了 186 个显着的标记-性状关联，其中一些证实了先前报告的根长度位点。本研究鉴定了几个影响小麦根系发育的新位点。特定染色体上的几个 MTA 仅在充分浇水条件和水分胁迫环境下被鉴定，特别是 58 个与根发育成分相关的重要 MTA。最显着的关联被发现用于深根组件。还，确定了对研究群体的不同方面具有显着影响的候选位点，特别是深根系统和水分胁迫环境下的根系发育。当前研究中鉴定的候选 SNP 由整个 WAMI 种群的现场数据验证，强调了执行 GWAS 用于鉴定影响根数量相关性状的位点的可靠性。这些结果提高了我们对充足浇水和缺水环境下根系结构遗传基础的理解。