Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXII, Issue 2
Written by Elena PETCU, Matilda CIUCĂ, Daniel CRISTINA, Cătălin LAZĂR, Cristina MARINCIU, Steliana BARBU
Root system characteristics are fundamental importance not only for the uptake of nutrients and water from soil but also for environmental stress tolerance. Root architectural traits determine the in situ space-filling properties of a root system or root architecture. The growth angle of root axes is a principal component of root system architecture that has been strongly associated with water efficiency in many crop species. The aims of this study were to examine the extent of genotypic variability for the growth angle of seminal roots in 100 Romanian haploid lines derived from a cross between two winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.), different for osmotic adjustment and association between growth angle of seminal roots and cuticular transpiration. Also three simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers (WMC596, WMC603 and SCM9) were examined for polymorphism between Izvor and F000628 wheat genotypes and to quantify the effect of 1RS:1AL translocation (from Secale) on seminal root characteristics and association between growth angle of seminal roots and cuticular transpiration. The growth angle of seminal roots showed significant genotypic variation among the wheat genotypes with values ranging from 53 to 119°. The obtained results revealed that SSR markers studied (wmc 596 and wmc 603) and 1AL/1RS translocation (from Secale) were weakly associated with growth angle of seminal roots. The implications of genotypic variation in the seminal root characteristics are discussed with emphasis on the possible exploitation of root architectural traits in breeding for improved wheat cultivars for water-limited environments.
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