Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
MSC Graduate, Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous, University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran.
2
Associate Professor, Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran.
3
Professor, Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran.
4
Department of Horticulture-Crops Research, Golestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Gorgan, Iran.
Abstract
Objective
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the world’s most important and economically significant cereal crops, serving as a staple food for a large portion of the global population. Enhancing grain yield and quality through the identification of genetically diverse, high-performing genotypes is a core objective in wheat breeding programs.
Materials and Methods
In this study, 63 bread wheat genotypes were evaluated for morphological traits using an augmented experimental design at the Araqi Mahalleh Research Farm in Gorgan. The aim was to assess genetic diversity and perform association analysis between morphological traits and molecular markers. Sixteen Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) and CAAT Box-Derived Polymorphism (CBDP) markers were employed to identify molecular markers linked to key agronomic traits.
Results
The results revealed a high level of morphological variation among the genotypes. Traits such as spike weight, number of grains, and grain weight exhibited high coefficients of variation. Grain weight showed significant positive correlations with number of grains, spike length, and peduncle diameter, emphasizing the importance of these traits in improving yield. Molecular marker analysis demonstrated a high degree of genetic diversity, with 340 total alleles associated with morphological traits. Stepwise regression analysis identified peduncle diameter, harvest index, spike length, peduncle length, number of spikes, and grain length as key predictors of yield-related traits. Among the markers, SCoT8 and CBDP15 exhibited the highest polymorphism, each generating 13 bands, while CBDP15 produced the most monomorphic bands. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.316 to 0.500, with primer SCoT8 showing the highest polymorphism percentage (81.25%) and the highest marker index (3.808). Based on regression analysis, CBDP15 had the highest frequency of association with the most significant number of traits overall.
Conclusion
The morphological and molecular data obtained in this study provide valuable insights for the selection of superior genotypes. These findings can support the development of high-yielding wheat cultivars through marker-assisted selection and contribute to the advancement of wheat breeding programs.
Keywords
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