Morphological characterization and inheritance of leaf hairiness in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as analyzed by computer-aided phenotyping

Computer-aided image processing was used to study the morphology of leaf hairiness in the wheat cultivars Saratovskaya 29 and Golubka, as well as the introgressed line 102/00(i) of the cultivar Rodina carrying the gene for leaf hairiness introgressed from Aegilops speltoides. Morphological differences in leaf hairiness were detected and described in detail. The genetic control of hairiness was studied in two cultivars (Golubka and Saratovskaya 29) with similar hairiness patterns. Crossing these cultivars with the cultivar Rodina showed a monogenic inheritance in the cultivar Golubka and a digenic inheritance in the cultivar Saratovskaya 29, which has a denser hairiness. In the line 102/00(i) and the cultivar Golubka, the number of trichomes was positively correlated with their mean length. The cultivar Golubka was used as an example to study the effect of environmental conditions on the formation of hairiness. Plants of this cultivar were found to form more but shorter trichomes under field conditions.