Evaluation of Morphological Diversity, Mitotic Instability and Fertility in Tritipyrum

Abstract

Tritipyrum is prone to mitotic instability, stiff straw and low fertility. A complete randomized design was used to evaluate morphological diversity, fertility and grain yield of 7 new synthetic Tritipyrum lines and their F 1 offspring'sin a cross with bread wheat. Fertility, harvest index, biological yield, 1000-grains weight (TGW) and grain yield of Tritipyrum derived genotypes were significantly lower than bread wheat and Triticale. The morphology of Tritipyrum was found to be similar with wheat lines and hybridization between Tritipyrum and bread wheat was efficient for developing early maturelines and reducing stiff straw and plant height. Results showed that mitotic instability in small size grains (TGW< 30 g) were significantly higher than heavy grains (TGW> 30 g) in both parental and F 2 progenies .Euploidyof Tritipyrum derived genotypes were significantly lower than Triticale and bread wheat. Results suggested that the larger and heavier grains show higher frequency of euploidy and that can be useful for maintenance of the genetic stability of Tritipyrum genotypes. Tritipyrum as a new man made cereal is a good genetic resource for wheat breeding and may complements the role of bread wheat wherever environmental condition is not suitable for wheat cultivation.