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QTL mapping for yield-related traits in wheat based on four RIL populations

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Abstract

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Eight environmentally stable QTL for grain yield-related traits were detected by four RIL populations, and two of them were validated by a natural wheat population containing 580 diverse varieties or lines.

Abstract

Yield and yield-related traits are important factors in wheat breeding. In this study, four RIL populations derived from the cross of one common parent Yanzhan 1 (a Chinese domesticated cultivar) and four donor parents including Hussar (a British domesticated cultivar) and three semi-wild wheat varieties in China were phenotyped for 11 yield-related traits in eight environments. An integrated genetic map containing 2009 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers generated from a 90 K SNP array was constructed to conduct quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis. A total of 161 QTL were identified, including ten QTL for grain yield per plant (GYP) and yield components, 49 QTL for spike-related traits, 43 QTL for flag leaf-related traits, 22 QTL for plant height (PH), and 37 QTL for heading date and flowering date. Eight environmentally stable QTL were validated in individual RIL population where the target QTL was notably detected, and six of them had a significant effect on GYP. Furthermore, Two QTL, QSPS-2A.4 and QSL-4A.1, were also validated in a natural wheat population containing 580 diverse varieties or lines, which provided valuable resources for further fine mapping and genetic improvement in yield in wheat.

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Abbreviations

RIL:

Recombinant inbred line

QTL:

Quantitative trait locus/loci

SNP:

Single-nucleotide polymorphism

MAS:

Marker-assisted selection

BLUP:

Best linear unbiased prediction

JICIM:

Joint inclusive composite interval mapping

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

PVE:

Phenotypic variation explained

GY:

Grain yield

GYP:

Grain yield per plant

SN:

Spike number per plant

KPS:

Kernel number per spike

SL:

Spike length

SPS:

Spikelet number per spike

FLL:

Flag leaf length

FLW:

Flag leaf width

FLA:

Flag leaf area

PH:

Plant height

HD:

Heading date

FD:

Flowering date

YZ:

Yanzhan 1

CY:

Chayazheda29

HU:

Hussar

YN:

Yunnanxiaomai

YT:

Yutiandaomai

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Transgenic Special Item of China (2016ZX08002003-002 and 2016ZX08009-003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31520103911, 31871610, 31901491 and 31901492), and the Agricultural Variety Improvement Project of Shandong Province (2019LZGC010).

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Author notes

  1. Junmei Hu and Xiaoqian Wang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China

    Junmei Hu, Xiaoqian Wang, Peng Jiang, Wuying Chen, Yongchao Hao, Xin Ma, Shoushen Xu, Lingrang Kong & Hongwei Wang

  2. Lianyungang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lianyungang, 222000, China

    Guangxu Zhang

  3. National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jizeng Jia

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  1. Junmei Hu
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  3. Guangxu Zhang
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  4. Peng Jiang
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  10. Lingrang Kong
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  11. Hongwei Wang
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Contributions

LK and HW designed this research. JH carried out the research and then wrote the first draft of the manuscript. XW conducted the data analysis and revised this paper. GZ, WC, YH, XM, and SX participated in the field experiments and data collection. PJ constructed the integrated linkage map. JJ provided the materials. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lingrang Kong or Hongwei Wang.

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Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

I declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described is original, previously unpublished research, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The experiments in this study comply with the current laws of China.

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Communicated by Gary Muehlbauer.

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Hu, J., Wang, X., Zhang, G. et al. QTL mapping for yield-related traits in wheat based on four RIL populations. Theor Appl Genet 133, 917–933 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03515-w

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