Premium
Cross‐Pollination of Male‐Sterile Winter Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) Having Aegilops caudata L. and Aegilops ovata L. Cytoplasm 1
Author(s) -
Porter K. B.,
Lahr Keith A.,
Atkins I. M.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1965.0011183x000500020019x
Subject(s) - biology , agricultural experiment station , crop , agronomy , horticulture , agriculture , ecology
CYTOPLASMIC male-sterile wheat was derived by substituting the wheat nucleus in the cytoplasm of Aegilops caudata. L., Aegilops ovata L., and Triticum timopheevi Zhuk. by Kihara (4), Fukasawa (1, 3), and Wilson and Ross (9), respectively. The discovery of factors for the restoration of pollen-fertility of Ae. ovata type male-sterile durum by Fukasawa (2) and for T. timopheevi type male-sterile wheats by Schmidt et al. (7) and J. A. Wilson as cited by Livers (5) make possible the utilization of cytoplasmic male-sterility. These achievements resulted in the initiation of intensive research directed towards its utilization in producing wheat hybrids and improving wheat varieties. Male-sterile wheats having Ae. caudata cytoplasm commonly have a high incidence of pistillody which may render them at least partially female sterile, and those having Ae. ovata cytoplasm have been found by a number of workers to be delayed in flowering as compared to their fertile counterparts. These faults may limit their utilization. T. timopheevi type steriles have neither of these faults. Success in producing hybrid seed at a cost sufficiently low for use in commercial production of first generation wheat hybrids may be largely dependent on obtaining a relatively high seed set on male-sterile wheat by crosspollination. Wilson and Ross (8) obtained 71% seed set on Ae. ovat-a type male-sterile plants placed in the field between strips of wheat at flowering time. Porter and Atkins (6) obtained only 12 and 8% seed set on Ae. caudata and Ae. ovata type steriles space-planted in a field of 'Tascosa'. Late tillers on the Ae. caudata derived steriles and delayed maturity of the Ae. ovata type steriles resulted in many spikes missing the pollination period. However, when only the first 5 spikes to flower were used in the calculation, percent seed sets were still only 24 and 12%. The writers are not aware of any published results pertaining to seed set on T. timopheevi type steriles. Results presented herein pertain to seed set on Ae. caudata and Ae. ovata type steriles planted at normal planting rates in small crossing blocks or fields where attempts were made to match the flowering dates of the parents and to extend the pollination period of the pollinator.