The improvement of agronomic performances in the cold weather conditions for perennial wheatgrass by crossing Thinopyrum intermedium with wheat- Th. intermedium partial amphiploids

Yizhuo Liu; Weiwei Song; Anning Song; Chunfei Wu; Jiarui Ding; Xiaoning Yu; Jia Song; Miaomiao Liu; Xinyuan Yang; Changtong Jiang; Haibin Zhao; Weifu Song; Dongjun Liu; Xuefeng Yang; Qingjie Song; Xinling Li; Lei Cui; Hongjie Li; Yanming Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1207078

The improvement of agronomic performances in the cold weather conditions for perennial wheatgrass by crossing Thinopyrum intermedium with wheat- Th. intermedium partial amphiploids

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Oct 17:14:1207078. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1207078. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yizhuo Liu¹, Weiwei Song¹, Anning Song¹, Chunfei Wu¹, Jiarui Ding¹, Xiaoning Yu², Jia Song¹, Miaomiao Liu¹, Xinyuan Yang¹, Changtong Jiang¹, Haibin Zhao³, Weifu Song⁴, Dongjun Liu⁴, Xuefeng Yang⁴, Qingjie Song⁴, Xinling Li¹, Lei Cui⁵, Hongjie Li⁶, Yanming Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Molecular Cytogenetics and Genetic Breeding of Heilongjiang Province, College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China.
² Administrative Security Division, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China.
³ Institute of Pratacultural Science, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China.
⁴ Crop Resources Institute, Heilongjiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Harbin, China.
⁵ College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China.
⁶ National Engineering Laboratory for Crop Molecular Breeding/Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Thinopyrum intermedium (2n=6x=42, StStJ^rJ^rJ^vsJ^vs) is resistant or tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses, making it suitable for developing perennial crops and forage. Through five cycles of selection, we developed 24 perennial wheatgrass lines, designated 19HSC-Q and 20HSC-Z, by crossing wheat-Th. intermedium partial amphiploids with Th. intermedium. The cold resistance, morphological performance, chromosome composition, and yield components of these perennial lines were investigated from 2019 to 2022. Six lines of 19HSC-Q had higher 1,000-kernel weight, grains per spike, and tiller number than Th. intermedium, as well as surviving -30°C in winter. Lines 19HSC-Q14, 19HSC-Q18, and 19HSC-Q20 had the best performances for grain number per spike and 1,000-kernel weight. The 20HSC-Z lines, 20HSC-Z1, 20HSC-Z2, and 20HSC-Z3, were able to survive in the cold winter in Harbin and had been grown for two years. Sequential multicolor GISH analysis revealed that the J^vs subgenome of Th. intermedium were divided into two karyotypes, three pairs of type-I J^vs chromosomes and four pairs of type-II J^vs chromosomes. Both Th. intermedium and the 24 advanced perennial wheatgrass lines had similar chromosome compositions, but the translocations among subgenome chromosomes were detected in some lines with prominent agronomic traits, such as 19HSC-Q11, 19HSC-Q14, 19HSC-Q18, 19HSC-Q20, and the three 20HSC-Z lines. The chromosome aberrations were distinguished into two types: the large fragment translocation with St-J^r, J^vs-St, J^r-IIJ^vs, and J^vs-J^r and the small fragment introgression of J^r-St, St-IJ^vs, and J^vs-J^r. These chromosomal variations can be used to further analyze the relationship between the subgenomes and phenotypes of Th. intermedium. The results of this study provide valuable materials for the next selection cycle of cold-resistant perennial wheatgrass.

Keywords: Thinopyrum intermedium; chromosome; sequential multicolor GISH; subgenome; wheatgrass.

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFE0110400), the Innovation Project of Master’s Degree in Harbin Normal University (HSDSSCX2022-16), the College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program in Heilongjiang (S2022010231062), and the Research Fund Project of Provincial Scientific Research Institutes in Heilongjiang Province (CZKYF2021-2-B007).