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Identification and agronomic characterization of imazamox-resistant dwarf mutants in Ningmai 36

GUI Ling-Xing1,2,LING Xi-Tie2,TANG Zhao-Cheng2,LUO Wen-Zhen1,2,ZHU Pan-Zhen1,2,QIU Ze-Yu2,*,ZHANG Bao-Long1,2,*   

  1. 1 College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210014, Jiangsu, China; 2 Institute of Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, Jiangsu, China
  • Received:2024-11-15 Revised:2025-08-13 Accepted:2025-08-13 Published:2025-08-26
  • Supported by:
    This study was supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Independent Innovation Project (CX(23)3094).

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Abstract:

The frequent occurrence of herbicide-resistant volunteer weed plants in wheat fields, combined with poor agronomic performance due to lodging, poses a significant challenge to achieving high yields and yield stability. To address this issue, we applied ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis to the widely cultivated winter wheat variety Ningmai 36 and generated an M2 population screened for both resistance to the acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor imazamox and reduced plant height. Two stable mutants, WK120 and WK121, were identified that combined both traits. These mutants survived imazamox doses lethal to the wild type and exhibited height reductions of 37% and 29%, respectively. Genotyping revealed a G-to-A point mutation in the ALS gene on the D subgenome, resulting in a serine-to-asparagine substitution at position 627. Comprehensive evaluation of agronomic and yield-related traits showed that WK120 and WK121 outperformed the wild type in several key metrics: thousand-grain weight increased by 4.29% and 5.17%, grain number per spike by 1.9% and 3.1%, and spike length by 1.8% and 2.7%, respectively. Gibberellin (GA3) application experiments confirmed that both mutants remain responsive to GA, indicating that their dwarf phenotype is not due to GA insensitivity. Furthermore, molecular marker assays and Sanger sequencing ruled out the presence of known GA-sensitive dwarfing alleles (Rht4, Rht8, Rht9, Rht11, and Rht22) in both the wild type and mutant lines, suggesting the presence of a previously uncharacterized dwarfing locus in WK120 and WK121. These herbicide-resistant, dwarf derivatives of Ningmai 36 demonstrate strong tolerance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides along with improved agronomic performance, representing valuable genetic resources for future wheat breeding programs.

Key words: wheat, dwarf mutant, imazamox, gibberellin, agronomic traits

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