Testcross performance of rye introgression lines developed by marker-assisted backcrossing using an Iranian accession as donor

Introgression libraries facilitate the identification of favorable exotic alleles or genomic regions, which can be exploited for improving elite breeding material. We evaluated the first two introgression libraries in rye (Secale cereale L.) on the phenotypic and molecular level. Our objectives were to detect candidate introgression lines (pre-ILs) with a better testcross performance than the recurrent parent and identify donor chromosome segments (DCS) responsible for the improved performance. We introduced DCS from the self-incompatible heterozygous exotic Iranian primitive rye accession Altevogt 14160 (donor) into the genetic background of the elite inbred line L2053-N (recurrent parent) by marker-assisted backcrossing and developed 40 BC2S3 lines in each introgression library. Testcross performance for three agronomic and six quality traits was evaluated in replicated field trials across two testers at five locations over 2 years. The phenotypic effect of the DCS was analyzed for all traits. The pre-ILs had on average a testcross performance comparable to that of the recurrent parent. Significant (P < 0.05) differences between individual pre-ILs and the recurrent parent were detected for all traits except for heading date. For more than 60% of the significant (P < 0.05) differences, the pre-ILs were superior to the recurrent parent. For some pre-ILs, specific DCS were identified containing presumably quantitative trait loci responsible for the superior hybrid performance. Consequently, our study revealed that the development and employment of introgression libraries offers the opportunity for a targeted increase of genetic diversity of elite rye material for hybrid performance of agronomically important traits.