Membrane thermal stability at different developmental stages of spring wheat genotypes and their diallel cross populations

Abstract

Membrane thermal stability (MTS) can be a significant selection criterion for heat stress tolerance. MTS is determined by measuring of electirical conductivity of aquause phase in which leaf tissue exposure to high temperature. This research was conducted to investigate the membrane stability assay measured by two different methods, namely MTS and relative injury (RI). The second objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of different growth stages of four spring wheat parents and their six half F2 diallel cross progenies grown in the field on membrane stability. Measurements were taken at different growth stages (seedling, stem elongation and early milk). The MTS and RI assays gave similar results at the three different growth stages. However, growth stages significantly affected the MTS and RI values of genotypes. Membrane stability parameters of genotypes decreased during the later developmental stages. Specific combining ability effects were superior to general combining ability effect for all measurements, indicating that membrane thermal stability was mediated mainly by non-additive gene actions. Membrane stability of flag leaf at the early milk stage was significantly correlated with grain yield. The parent of Genç 99 and 84ÇZT04 had low yield potential, whereas Chil's and Seri 82 had high yield potential. Grain yield, spike yield and kernel weight of F2 population were found higher than their parents. These results suggest that genetic variation among genotypes for membrane stability can be utilized in wheat breeding in heat-stressed environments.