Search of genetic sources for the improvement of wheat variety quality

Russia is the leading exporter of cereal crops in the world, but over the last decades the quality of wheat grain has been declining. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the different source material and to select the sources of genes that control the grain quality traits. The study of 165 spring soft wheat samples, including spring wheat varieties from Russia, Kazakhstan and the USA, and 48 synthetic hexaploids with the Ae. tauschii genome was conducted in 2017-2019. On the basis of the best synthetic hexaploids, hybrid combinations with local wheat varieties were obtained; among them, lines were selected and studied in breeding nurseries in 2019-2020. The genes which control grain quality traits were identified at the LGC Genomics laboratory (UK) with usage 42 KASP-markers. The varieties of commercial variety trial Lutescens 126-15, Erythrospermum 4-16 (now variety Agronomicheskaya 5), Lutescens 19-16, Lutescens 63-16, and the lines of hybrid combinations based on synthetic hexaploids Ukr-Od.1530.94 / Аe. tau. (1027) // Pamyati Azieva, Ukr-Od.1530.94 / Аe. tau. (310) // OmGAU 90, Ukr-Od.1530.94 / Аe. tau. (392) // Element 22, Aisberg / Ae. tau. (369) // Pavlogradka, Langdon / KU-20-9 // Pamyati Azieva were identified as sources of new gene alleles for wheat breeding with high grain quality in Western Siberia. The KASP-markers S2D_10070953, S6D_83156449 are recommended for the selection of breeding material with high protein and gluten content in grain, while S5A_471711779 is recommended for grain size.