Abstract:

The mineral nutrition is an important aspect of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain quality, and becomes one of the most important targets for breeding. The main kindred germplasm of common wheat, which carry many fine genes, act as important donors in the evolution and breeding of common wheat. To screen breeding materials from these kindred germplasm with high or low mineral element content, we assessed the content level of four essential elements (iron, zinc, copper, and manganese) in grain of 19 main kindred germplasm of common wheat including (T. boeoticum, T. monococcum, Ae. tauschii, Secale, Secale vaviloviim, T. dicoccodes, T. dicoccum, T. polonicum, T. carthlicum, T. turanicum, Ae. triuncialis, T. spelta, T. compactum, T. sphaeroccum, T. aestivum concv. ramulostachye, T. aestivum subsp. tibetanum, T. aestivum subsp. yunnanese, Triticale (6×), Triticale (8×), Chinese Spring.) in 2005–2006. The common wheat cultivar Chinese Spring was employed as control. After dry digestion, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn were determined by flame atomic accessory spectrometry (FAAS). The results showed that the mean content and the improving potential of all materials were 50.94 μg g^-1 and 121.94% for Fe, 34.89 μg g^-1 and 40.46% for Zn, 6.96 μg g^-1 and 41.17% for Cu, 33.21 μg g^-1 and 73.03% for Mn, respectively. Based on the contents of Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn, all materials were classified into three groups by using clustered analysis. T. turanicum was classified as Fe rich material with the highest content of 124.32 μg g^-1. T. boeoticum, T. monococcum, and other four samples were classified as Zn rich materials, whose Zn content on average was 49.91 μg g^-1. T. aestivum concv. Ramulostachye, and Triticale (8×) were classified as Cu rich materials, whose Cu content on average was 8.66 μg g^-1. T. spelta was classified as Mn rich materials, with the highest content of 63.85 μg g^-1. The Tetraploid materials had the highest mean contents of Fe, Zn and Mn, and the Octoploid materials had the highest mean content of Cu. The materials with AABB genome had the highest mean contents of Fe, Zn, and Mn, followed by the materials with AA genome. The materials with AABBDDRR genome had the highest mean content of Cu. These results are useful for parent’s selection and utilization of fine genes in wheat.

Key words: Wheat, Kindred germplasm, Micronutrient