| Choice of the most representative structural characters
of the wheat kernel Romuald KOSINA Institute of Botany, University of Wroclaw Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland The breeding improvement of the cereals grain structure requires detailed studies of many features of caryopsis. One should include here both morphological and anatomical characters, as well as the chemism of kernel. The investigations of this type were made for many pure lines of T. aestivum var. vulgare, some species of Triticum genus as well as their hybrids of F2 generation (KOSINA 1978). In T. aestivum var. vulgare, T. turgidum var. durum and var. polonicum the presence of interesting anatomical characters, considerably increasing the quality of kernels, was observed (KOSINA unpubl.). To analyse many various characters of caryopsis, one has to evaluate the usefulness of the parameters for the characterization of the investigated material. The parameters which repeat the information should be removed. The present report is devoted to this problem. Materials For big, random sample of kernels the nineteen characters of a single caryopsis were analysed: 1-width, 2-thickness, 3-length, 4-weight, 5-depth of the crease, 6-width of the crease, 7-length of the endosperm cavity arms, 8-height of the cavity, 9-thickness of the fruit and seed coat, 10-thickness of the aleurone layer, 11-thickness of the high-protein sub-aleurone endosperm layer, 12-specific gravity, 13-empirical volume of the kernel, 14-the maximum theoretical volume, 15-degree of filling of the kernel, 16-shape of the kernel, 17-coefficient of the endosperm yield from caryopsis, 18-coefficient of the endosperm quality, 19-quality of caryopsis (the microDBC-parameter). The above mentioned quantitative characters were grouped in three sets: I. - characters no. 10, 11, 12, 18, 19 (the set of parameters characterizing the "quality of caryopsis"), II - characters no. 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15 (the set of parameters describing the "shapeliness of caryopsis", an important component of yield), III - characters no. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17 (the set characterizing the "quantity of endosperm in a single kernel"). The choice of the representative characters was made within each set. The information about the examined characters is important for the processing of grain (cleaning, descication, milling and baking). The representative characters were chosen for some populations of pure lines and hybrids of F2 generation of spring wheat: T. aestivum var. vulgare cv. Opolska (01), T. aestivum var. spelta (Sp), Nagradowicka x Capega (N x C1), Capega x Ostka Popularna (C3 x OP4), Oktawia x Capega (Ok2 x C2), T. aestivum var. spelta x T. aestivum var. sphaerococcum (Sp x S1), Opolska x T. turgidum var. polonicum (01 x P). N, C1, C3, OP4, Ok2, C2, O1 are the pure lines of common wheat varieties. |
| --> Next |