Effects of specific Rht and Ppd alleles on agronomic traits in winter wheat cultivars grown in middle Europe

Based on studies of the distribution of alleles at the important Rht and Ppd loci on wheat chromosomes 4B, 4D and 2D, different groups of winter wheat cultivars registered in the Czech and Slovak Republics during the period 1976-2007 were examined for a range of agronomic traits using official data from multi-location trials. Significant variation for all traits was detected among and between genotype groups. The frequent introduction of 'Rht-D1b' cultivars from the UK and Western Europe to the Czech Republic since 1995 has positively influenced lodging resistance and undoubtedly also yielding ability, but negatively affected winter-hardiness and bread making quality. An improved opportunity for earlier flowering cultivars with high winter-hardiness levels, in combination with high bread-making quality, can be obtained with genotypes carrying the Xgwm261 allele 192-bp that is probably indicative of the presence of Rht8. While GA insensitive Rht genes caused approximately a 10 cm reduction of plant height, the 192-bp allele at Xgwm261 was not associated, in these conditions, with a significant reduction in plant height when compared to Xgwm261 alleles 165- and 174-bp. Likewise, the photoperiod insensitive allele Ppd-D1a did not have a significant effect on plant height and it had not adversely affected other characters. Later heading genotypes carrying Xgwm261 alleles174- and 165-bp, often in combination with Ppd-D1b, could probably guarantee broader adaptability, which is highly desirable for changeable weather conditions. While the presence of the 192-bp allele was clearly associated with suitability for cultivation in the warmer maize growing regions, this was not so obvious for Ppd-D1a, particularly when combined with the 174-bp allele. GA responsive genes did not, apparently, influence adaptability to the different growing conditions. These studies reveal that there were both shortcomings and benefits attributable to the use of germplasm from different origins when introducing Rht and Ppd alleles. These results should be helpful to breeders in optimizing the choice of parents for crossing, and selection strategy in these target environments.