Photoperiod and vernalization gene effects in southern Australian wheat

Photoperiod and vernalization genes are important for the optimal adaptation of wheat to different environments. Diagnostic markers are now available for Vrn-A1, Vrn-B1, Vrn-D1 and Ppd-D1, with all four genes variable in southern Australian wheat-breeding programs. To estimate the effects of these genes on days to heading we used data from 128 field experiments spanning 24 years. From an analysis of 1085 homozygous cultivars and breeding lines, allelic variation for these four genes accounted for similar to 45% of the genotypic variance for days to heading. In the presence of the photoperiod-insensitive allele of Ppd-D1, differences between the winter genotype and genotypes with a spring allele at one of the genes ranged from 3.5 days for Vrn-B1 to 4.9 days for Vrn-D1. Smaller differences occurred between genotypes with a spring allele at one of the Vrn genes and those with spring alleles at two of the three genes. The shortest time to heading occurred for genotypes with spring alleles at both Vrn-A1 and Vrn-D1. Differences between the photoperiod-sensitive and insensitive alleles of Ppd-D1 depended on the genotype of the vernalization genes, being greatest when three spring alleles were present (11.8 days) and least when the only spring allele was at Vrn-B1 (3.7 days). Because of these epistatic interactions, for the practical purposes of using these genes for cross prediction and marker-assisted selection we concluded that using combinations of alleles of genes simultaneously would be preferable to summing effects of individual genes. The spring alleles of the vernalization genes responded differently to the accumulation of vernalizing temperatures, with the common spring allele of Vrn-A1 showing the least response, and the spring allele of Vrn-D1 showing a response that was similar to, but less than, a winter genotype.