Abstract

Global warming may cause +4 degrees C temperature increases before the end of this century. Heat tolerant bred-germplasm remains the most promising method to ensure farm productivity under this scenario. A global set of 384 durum wheat accessions were exposed to very high temperatures occurring along the Senegal River at two sites for two years. The goal was to identify germplasm with enhanced tolerance to heat. There was significant variation for all traits. The genetic (G) effect accounted for >15% of the total variation, while the genotype by environment interaction (G x E) reached 25%. A selection index that combines G and a G x E wide adaptation index was used to identify stable high yielding germplasm. Forty-eight accessions had a stable grain yield above the average (2.7 t ha(-1)), with the three top lines above 3.5 t ha(-1). Flowering time, spike fertility and harvest index were the most critical traits for heat tolerance, while 1000-kernel weight and spike density only had environment-specific effects. Testing of six subpopulations for grain yield across heat-prone sites revealed an even distribution among clusters, thus showing the potential of this panel for dissecting heat tolerance via association genetics.

Keywords

adaptation to heat; Africa; AMMI; drylands; global warming; rice-wheat rotation

Published in

Agriculture
2018, Volume: 8, number: 7, article number: 99

SLU Authors

• Ortiz Rios, Rodomiro Octavio

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture8070099

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95742