STUDIES ON THE INHERITANCE OF AND THE RELATION BETWEEN KERNEL TEXTURE AND PROTEIN CONTENT IN SEVERAL SPRING WHEAT CROSSES

Abstract

In crosses of Milturum × Selection I-28-60, F2 populations grown from different F1 plants were found to behave in three different ways in regard to the mode of inheritance of kernel texture. In two of these groups vitreous texture was partially dominant and governed by either one or two main factors, while in the third group starchy texture was partially dominant and governed by one main factor pair. Minor modifying factors also influence the mode of inheritance of this character in the above crosses. The heritable nature of kernel texture was also demonstrated, by correlation studies, in the crosses of Reward with Selections I-28-46, I-28-60 and I-28-62.The inheritance of protein content in Milturum × Selection I-28-60 appeared to be controlled by polymeric factors, the exact nature of which was not determined. The lack of correlation for crude protein content between the material grown at Brooks and that grown at Fallis indicates that the expression of the mode of inheritance of protein content is readily influenced by the environment. In the other crosses studied, protein content was also shown to be inherited.A strong positive relation was found to exist between vitreous kernel texture and high protein content for the several series of crosses studied.