Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2024, Vol.15, No.3, 121-124 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/tgg 121 Scientific Review Open Access Discovering Genes that Enhance Yield in Drought Conditions within Turkish Winter Wheat JianLi Zhong Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572024, China Corresponding email: zhongjianli8888@gmail.com Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2024, Vol.15, No.3 doi: 10.5376/tgg.2024.15.0012 Received: 11 Apr., 2024 Accepted: 14 May., 2024 Published: 26 May., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Zhong, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Zhong J.L., 2024, Discovering genes that enhance yield in drought conditions within turkish winter wheat, Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 15(3): 121-124 (doi: 10.5376/tgg.2024.15.0012) On April 10, 2024, a collaborative research result by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, Syngenta's Jealott's Hill International Research Center, and Kazakhstan's Scientific Production Grain Center was published in the journal Scientific Reports. The paper, authored by D. Sehgal as the first author and A. Morgounov as the corresponding author, is titled "Genomic wide association study and selective sweep analysis identify genes associated with improved yield under drought in Turkish winter wheat germplasm." This research was jointly funded by the FAO's International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (W2B-PR-41-TURKEY) and the BMGF/FCDO project on Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) (INV-003439). The study employed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and selective sweep analysis to explore genes and genomic regions related to drought resistance and increased yield within Turkish winter wheat germplasm. The research involved genotyping 84 local Turkish winter wheat varieties and 73 modern varieties using a 25K wheat SNP array and phenotyped agronomic traits in 2018 and 2019. The year 2018 was considered a drought environment due to extremely low rainfall, while 2019 was deemed a favorable environment. The results indicated several genomic regions associated with yield and yield-related traits. 1 Experimental Data Analysis The GWAS results identified 18 genomic regions associated with grain yield (GY) and related traits, such as TaERF3-3A and TaERF3-3B. Selective sweep analysis revealed 39 selection signals, 15 of which were close to genes known to control flowering, yield, and yield components. The study also found that specific haplotype blocks exhibited a significant increase in yield (over 700 kg/ha) during the drought season. Figure 1 clearly reflects the comparison between the wheat yield and related traits during the drought season of 2018 and the favorable season of 2019. In the drought season of 2018, the average wheat yield (shown in Figure a) significantly decreased, and its distribution showed a wide range, indicating considerable variability in performance under drought conditions among different local or modern varieties. At the same time, related yield parameters such as the number of spikelets per spike (Figure b) and thousand-grain weight (Figure c) also showed significant declines under drought conditions, suggesting that drought not only affects the overall wheat yield but also its constituent elements. Changes in spike length (Figure d) and the number of spikes (Figure e) also displayed significant differences between the two seasons, indicating that wheat growth and development were restricted under drought conditions, potentially affecting overall yield. However, these traits recovered under favorable conditions in 2019, indicating some adaptability of wheat varieties to environmental conditions. Additionally, the harvest index (Figure f), which is the ratio of the harvestable part weight to the total plant weight, also showed a downward trend in the drought year, reflecting a decrease in crop conversion efficiency under drought conditions. Although the response to these traits varied significantly among different varieties, the overall trend is consistent: drought conditions significantly affect wheat growth and yield.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNQ==