Dormancy breaking procedures and the breeding of white-grained wheat with resistance to pre-harvest sprouting

Summary Gibberellic acid, cold (4°C) and a combination of these two treatments were tested for use in breaking dormancy in 27 lines of white-grained wheat with varying levels of resistance to pre-harvest sprouting. Germination increased in all lines treated with gibberellic acid. Dormancy could be broken with 1 M gibberellic acid. Response to cold varied. A combination of gibberellic acid and cold treatment was the most effective. This technique has been found useful in treating seed in a breeding program aimed at producing wheats with resistance to pre-harvest sprouting.