No abstract

Narrowing the genetic base available for future genetic progress is a major concern to plant breeders. In order to avoid this, strategies to characterize and protect genetic diversity in regional breeding pools are required. In this study, 89 winter wheat cultivars released in Croatia between 1936 and 2006 were genotyped using 1,229 DArT (diversity array technology) markers to assess the diversity and population structure. In order to place Croatian breeding pool (CBP) in a European context, Croatian wheat cultivars were compared to 523 European cultivars from seven countries using a total of 166 common DArT markers. The results show higher genetic diversity in the wheat breeding pool from Central Europe (CE) as compared to that from Northern and Western European (NWE) countries. The most of the genetic diversity was attributable to the differences among cultivars within countries. When the geographical criterion (CE vs. NWE) was applied, highly significant difference between regions was obtained that accounted for 16.19% of the total variance, revealing that the CBP represents genetic variation not currently captured in elite European wheat. The current study emphasizes the important contribution made by plant breeders to maintaining wheat genetic diversity and suggests that regional breeding is essential to the maintenance of this diversity. The usefulness of open-access wheat datasets is also highlighted.

Genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) is often a great challenge for breeders since it makes the selection of stable or superior genotypes more difficult. In order to reduce drawbacks caused by GEI and make the selection for wheat quality more effective, it is important to properly assess the effects of genotype, environment, and GEI on the trait of interest. In the present study, GEI patterns for the selected quality and mixograph traits were studied using the Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model. Two biparental wheat populations consisting of 145 and 175 RILs were evaluated in six environments. The environment was the dominant source of variation for grain protein content (GPC), wet gluten content (WGC), and test weight (TW), accounting for approximately 40% to 85% of the total variation. The pattern was less consistent for mixograph traits for which the dominant source of variation has been shown to be trait and population-dependent. Overall, GEI has been shown to play a more important role for mixograph traits compared to other quality traits. Inspection of the AMMI2 biplot revealed some broadly adapted RILs, among which, MG124 is the most interesting, being the prevalent “winner” for GPC and WGC, but also the “winner” for non-correlated trait TW in environment SB10.

U Republici Hrvatskoj, u razdoblju od 1885. do 2010. godine, požete površine pod pšenicom rasle su do 1964. godine (od 190.000 ha u 1885. god. do 442.000 ha u 1964. god.), a od tada do danas bilježi se pad sve do 2010. godine kada je bila požeta najmanja površina od 141.000 ha. U razdoblju 1885-2010. god., proizvodnja pšenice varirala je od najmanjih 155.000 tona 1897. godine, dok je rekordna proizvo-dnja od 1.6 milijuna tona ostvarena 1990. godine. Promatrajući prosječne prinose, najniži prosječni prinos iznosio je 658 kg/ha (1897. god.), a najveći prinos od 5.483 kg/ha ostvaren je u 2008. godini. U promatranom razdoblju požete površine smanjivale su se na godišnjoj razini od 238 ha, dok su ukupna proizvodnja i prosječni prinosi rasli na godišnjoj razini u iznosu od 8.888 tona ili 37 kg/ha. Analizirajući pojedina razdoblja rezultati pokazuju da su u razdoblju 1885-1914. god. požete površine i proizvodnja rasle na godišnjoj razini od 6.760 ha i 5.473 tone, a prosječni prinosi zrna 5,7 kg/ha/godišnje. U razdoblju 1921-1939. god. požete površine i proizvodnja rasli na godišnjoj razini 2.813 ha i 5.618 tona, a prosječni prinosi zrna 6,5 kg/ha/godišnje. U razdoblju 1945-1991. god. požete površine su se smanjivale na godišnjoj razini od 1.080 ha. Proizvodnja je kontinuirano rasla na godišnjoj razini od 25.026 tona, a prosječni prinos zrna 84 kg/ha/ godišnje. U razdoblju 1992-2010. god. trend smanjivanja požetih površina se nastavio na godišnjoj razini od 2.168 ha, dok je za proizvodnju utvrđeno godišnje smanjivanje od 64 tona. Prosječni prinos zrna rastao je prosječno 61 kg/ha/godišnje.