1. Breeding and selection strategies to
combine and validate QTLs for WUE and
heat tolerance of wheat in China
RL Jing, XM Chen, et al. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
XM Chen, Q Li, et al. Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences (HAAS)
MR Sun, XR Li, et al. Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS)
YQ Zhang, ZL Wu, et al. Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (XAAS)
M Reynolds. CIMMYT
R Trethowan. University of Sydney, Australia
GCP General Research Meeting
27‒30 September 2013, Lisbon, Portugal
Ruilian Jing
(G7010.02.01)

2. Objective
 Implementing standardized drought and heat
phenotyping protocols to physiologically
evaluate genetic populations and germplasm
resources in China
 Using MARS and the outputs of previous QTL
studies to improve water-use-efficiency and
heat tolerance of wheat in China
− Marker assisted recurrent selection
− Introgression of known QTLs into local Chinese
cultivars

3. 270 historical winter wheat accessions
60 candidate SSR markers in six chromosome regions
QTL for plant height under multi-water regimes
--- linkage mapping, association mapping and allele pyramiding
Wu et al., J. Exp. Bot., 2010, 61: 2923–2937
Zhang et al., Planta, 2011, 234: 891–902
Beneficial allele detection for DT and HT improvement

4. Phenotypic effects of QTL alleles on plant height
Zhang et al., Mol Breeding, 2013, 32: 327–338
a: plant height and number of alleles with negative effects on height
b: plant height and number of alleles with positive effects on height
Number of elite alleles Number of elite alleles
Plant height of lines pyramided alleles
9 lines: 70.9 cm (Xgwm11-1BA208, Xwmc349-4BA103 and Xcfd23-4DA202)
4 lines: 112.8 cm (Xwmc349-4BA101 and Xcfd23-4DA205)

5. SWSC and TGW of modern cultivars from different
decades under four water regimes
SWSC: stem water-soluble carbohydrates ;SWSCF: SWSC at flowering stage; SWSCG: SWSC at grain-filling stage

6. Favorable allele detection and pyramiding of
SWSC and TGW in wheat
Single SWSC-favorable
allele contributing to
significantly higher
1000-grain weight
Accumulation (A) and frequency distribution (B) of 16 favorable
alleles in modern cultivars from different decades

7. Confirmation and selection of QTLs for
physiological traits associated with DT and HT
 11 markers linked with two QTLs
 QTLs for parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics (Fv/Fm, 9)
 Canopy temperature depression (CTD, 12)
 Stem water soluble carbohydrate (SWSC, 31)
 Chlorophyll content (CC, 29)
 Plant height (PH, 5)
Using joint linkage-association mapping, 70 validated QTL
markers for physiological traits related to drought and heat
tolerance were selected as candidate markers for marker
assisted recurrent selection (MARS).

8. Six populations selected for MARS
Original cross Generation
No. of
line
Polymorphic
marker
Top
line
New cross
Jinmai 47×shaanyou 225 BC3F5 215 23 10 20F2
Jingdong 8×Aikang 58 F2:4 207 36 8 16F1
Yannong 19×Yunhan 618-2 F6 395 13 9 15F2; 18F1
Hengguan 35×Jifeng 3703 F3:4 320 27 17 46F1
Chang 6878×Chang 4738 F2:4 220 12 13 37F1
Xinchun 6×PASTOR F5 224 19 19 10F2; 30F1
 Six populations were selected based on the SNP polymorphism between
25 parent pairs used in the original crosses by KBioscience UK.
 Based on both phenotyping and genotyping diversities, 8-19 top lines
have been selected from the populations for pyramiding the beneficial
alleles.
 Total of 192 crosses, including F1 and F2 lines have been developed.
Populations developed for MARS

9. Before winter
After winter
Grain filling stage
Phenotyping of GCP reference set WPHYSGP
in three Chinese wheat zones
Winter Wheat Zone
Changzhi, SAAS
CK
Sowed on 2011-10-20Sowed on 2011-10-5
Facultative Wheat Zone
Yuncheng, SAAS
Sowed on 2011-10-20
Before winter
After winter
Before winter
Spring Wheat Zone
Urumchi, XAAS

10. GCP materials
F2
populationBC1F1 population
GCP lines
F2 population
Introgression of genetic variation from GCP lines
into Chinese cultivars
BC1F1 population
25 elite lines were selected from the GCP reference set WPHYSGP based on
the agronomic traits under the artificial protection during winter in winter wheat
zones.
29 elite lines with favourable agronomic traits and high grain yield were
selected in Urumqi, Xinjiang, Spring Wheat Zone, in well-watered, heat stress,
and water stress environments.
These elite lines have been used to make more than 200 crosses with the local
cultivars to the F2 ~ BC3F3 generations .

11. Advanced line selection
 Two elite lines have been submitted to the National Trial.
 Seven elite lines have been submitted to the Provincial
Trial in Spring Wheat Zone, Facultative Wheat Zone and
Winter Wheat Zone, respectively.
 A number of advanced lines participant evaluating
experiments in breeding programs.

12. Zhongmai 36 enters 2nd year National Trial
Xgwm 369 Xwmc 47
Zhongmai 36
Zhongmai 36, an elite line selected from a
backcross [(Jinmai 47×Shaanyou 225)×Jinmai
47] BC3F5 has been recommended to enter the
2013-2014 National Trial for the 2nd year in
Yellow-Huai River Valley in the rainfed
environments.
Zhongmai 36 possesses beneficial alleles of
Xgwm 369 and Xwmc 47 for SWSC and TGW.
From left to right:
Jinmai 47, Shaanyou 225,
Zhongmai 36

14. Summary
Research achievements:
 70 QTL markers for DT and
HT have been used in MARS.
 Six populations were selected
and 192 crosses were made
with tail top lines.
 46 elite WPHYSGP lines were
used as cross parents, made
>200 crosses in the F2 ~
BC3F3 generations.
 Two and 7 elite lines have
been submitted to the
National and Provincial Trial,
respectively.
 A group of young scientists
are growing up.
Plan for next step:
 To validate more QTLs for
WUE and HT.
 To enhance MARS in the
breeding program.
 To deliver DT and HT lines
to breeders for breeding
utilization.
 To select elite lines based on
genotyping and phenotyping
for various wheat zones.
 To exchange information and
technology among breeders
and geneticists for building
the capacity of wheat
molecular breeding.