Morphological Characterisation of Monogenetic Traits of Tetraploid Wheat from Montenegro

Abstract

Tetraploid wheat has been the most important cereal in Montenegro until the green revolution and the introduction of elite common wheat cultivars. Realizing the risk of losing these populations, at the Agricultural institute in Podgorica activities on the collection and conservation of these populations were initiated. The entire population of tetraploid wheat of 89 samples is today stored in the plant gene gene bank of Montenegro. In order to assess the diversity of these populations, an assessment using UPOV morphological markers was performed in 2020. Five monogenetic traits were included in the analysis: type of plant growth, time of ear emergence (major genes controlling this trait are photoperiod sensitivity - ppd genes), ear glaucosity, plant height (major genes controlling plant height are reduced height - rht genes), the length of the ears without awns, the presence of awns and the seasonal type of plants (major genes vernalization - vrn). Multiple correspondence analyses showed that there were no signicant dierences between these populations. Moreover, dimensions one and two explained only 9.6 and 7.8%, of the total variation, respectively, which indicates the common origin of the population.