Root Biomass and Morphology of the Pavon 76 Bread Wheat - Rye Translocations 1RS.1AL, 1RS.1BL and 1RS.1DL.

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) - rye (Secale cereale.L.) translocations with the short arm of the rye chromosome 1 (1RS) are popular in wheat breeding programs worldwide due to desirable disease and pest resistance traits. The rye chromosome 1(1RS) translocations in “Pavon76” bread wheat have also been found to improve root biomass and grain yield. We evaluated root morphology and biomass of Pavon 76 bread wheat and its 1RS translocations Pavon1RS.1AL, Pavon 1RS.1BL & Pavon 1RS.1DL under varied organic and synthetic fertilizer rates using field and sand tube experiments in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Roots and shoots were sampled at the tillering, jointing, anthesis and physiological maturity growth stages. The 1RS translocations Pavon1RS.1AL and Pavon 1RS.1BL generally had longer roots and higher root mass with peaks at jointing and anthesis stages. These results indicate that the rye translocations 1RS.1AL and 1RS.1BL could be useful to wheat improvement programs aimed at increasing root system size and nutrient resource utilization.