Recent advances in crop research have the potential to accelerate genetic gains in wheat, especially if co-ordinated with a breeding perspective. For example, improving photosynthesis by exploiting natural variation in Rubisco's catalytic rate or adopting C(4) metabolism could raise the baseline for yield potential by 50% or more. However, spike fertility must also be improved to permit full utilization of photosynthetic capacity throughout the crop life cycle and this has several components. While larger radiation use efficiency will increase the total assimilates available for spike growth, thereby increasing the potential for grain number, an optimized phenological pattern will permit the maximum partitioning of the available assimilates to the spikes. Evidence for underutilized photosynthetic capacity during grain filling in elite material suggests unnecessary floret abortion. Therefore, a better understanding of its physiological and genetic basis, including possible signalling in response to photoperiod or growth-limiting resources, may permit floret abortion to be minimized for a more optimal source:sink balance. However, trade-offs in terms of the partitioning of assimilates to competing sinks during spike growth, to improve root anchorage and stem strength, may be necessary to prevent yield losses as a result of lodging. Breeding technologies that can be used to complement conventional approaches include wide crossing with members of the Triticeae tribe to broaden the wheat genepool, and physiological and molecular breeding strategically to combine complementary traits and to identify elite progeny more efficiently.

Although wheat breeding as a science can retrospect on a good one-hundred years only, in the infinity ends the row of people, who managed, maintained, protected and improved this cereal, probably the oldest food crop, grown on a larger acreage than any other nourishing plant species, over a wealth of centuries. In the form of an attractive manual, this book is a homage to all of them. Moreover, this book is a good example of how the diversity expressing in national/international skill, inventiveness, tradition and collection can be amalgamated into a common principle: care and improvement of a plant providing our everyday bread. Task of the editors was enormous: to give a detailed insight into the "wheat pools" of the Globe, beginning from agroecological traits of the individual lands through the breeding practices up to the results achieved in biotechnology and molecular genetic. Besides the "pool" chapters, many others dealing with origin of the cultivated wheat, genetic basis of varietal improvement, induced mutations, in vitro breeding, apomixis, hybrid wheat, molecular markers, genomics, transformation, future world supply and demand are offered to the readers. All these presented on 1181 pages and in 44 chapters divided into 13 parts, contributed by 123 authors. The References as a whole and the famous-unusually in separate blocks arranged-illustrations represent a special value. It is hoped, however, that the next edition will include chapters on Iberian, Scandinavian (except Denmark), North African and Chilean wheat pools as well and that the mistyped nouns (mainly Hungarian ones) will also be corrected.

The Rht-B1b, Rht-D1b and Rht-B1c alleles for reduced height in wheat (the Norin 10 and Tom Thumb dwarfing genes previously known as Rht1, Rht2 and Rht3) were exploited in combinations to generate a near-continuous range of plant heights, from 53 cm to 123 cm, amongst near-isogenic homozygotes and F1 hybrids. Pleiotropic yield effects of Rht genes were measured in both homozygous (intravarietal) and heterozygous (intervarietal) genetic backgrounds. Heterosis due to overdominance of Rht genes was detected among intravarietal hybrids. The effects of heterozygosity at other genetic loci (mean dominance) were determined, independently of Rht effects, from comparisons between intravarietal and intervarietal F1 hybrids.Genotypes of intermediate plant heights gave maximum yields, in agreement with other trials of the homozygous lines, so that heterosis (hybrid exceeding best parent) for Rht yield effects was observed in crosses between tall and dwarf isogenic pairs. This heterosis combined additively with increased mean weight per grain in intervarietal crosses, generating the highest overall grain yields in hybrids with semi-dwarf stature in heterozygous genetic backgrounds. The Rht-B1c allele showed single-gene overdominance for grain yield, also the production of alpha-amylase in ripening grains of Maris Huntsman was effectively inhibited in the Rht-B1a/c intravarietal hybrid. The Rht-B1c allele thus offers advantages for both grain yield and grain quality in the heterozygous condition and should be considered as an alternative to the conventional semi-dwarfing genes Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b for F1 varieties in environments conductive to preharvest sprouting.

SummaryIn experiments harvested in 1985 and 1986 the grain yields of 61 F1 hybrids among winter wheat varieties and advanced breeding lines were 5·9% greater than the yields of the best parents. In a trial with 430 hybrids in 1986, the hybrids yielded 3·6% more grain than the best parents. Among these 430 hybrids heterosis for yield was greatest for those from the lowest yielding parents. This result is taken to indicate that among these genotypes most genes for high yield have been fixed in the highest yielding parents.The hybrids had slightly fewer ears/m2, but more grains per ear and heavier grains than the highest yielding parents. They yielded more straw as well as more grain.The results are compared with those from other studies and it is concluded that yield advantage of F1 hybrids so far tested is not generally sufficient to justify their introduction into U.K. agriculture.

The ability of roots to extract soil moisture is critical for maintaining yields during drought. However, the extent of genotypic variation for rooting depth and drought tolerance in Northern European wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm is not known. The objectives of this study were to measure genotypic differences in root activity, test relationships between water use and yield, examine trade-offs between yield potential and investment of biomass in deep roots, and identify genotypes that contrast in deep root activity. A diverse set of 21 wheat genotypes was evaluated under irrigated and managed drought conditions in the field. Root activity was inferred from patterns of water extraction from the soil profile. Genotypes were equally capable of exploiting soil moisture in the upper layers, but there were significant genotypic differences in rates of water uptake after anthesis in deeper soil layers. For example, across the three years of the study, the variety Xi19 showed consistently deeper root activity than the variety Spark; Xi19 also showed greater drought tolerance than Spark. There were positive correlations between water extraction from depth and droughted yields and drought tolerance, but correlations between deep water use and yield potential were not significant or only weakly negative. With appropriate screening tools, selection for genotypes that can better mine deep soil water should improve yield stability in variable rainfall environments.