| Abstract: | 【Objective】 High-throughput evaluation of winter and spring wheat accessions for heat tolerance via heat susceptibility index (HSI) could provide the potentially superior accessions for heat-tolerant breeding programs. 【Method】 In order to expose plants to high temperatures during grain filling period, winter wheat accessions were sown in normal and late seasons, and spring wheat accessions were sown in different geographical environments with contrasting temperatures. The thousand grain weight (TGW) of winter and spring wheat accessions were measured under normal and heat stress environments, respectively. HSI was calculated from the TGW data of two different conditions. Using heat susceptibility index, 1 325 wheat germplasms from different wheat ecological zones of China, and international areas and organizations, including 688 winter wheat accessions and 637 spring wheat accessions, were evaluated for heat tolerance. Genotypes were classified into four tolerant grades, i.e. highly heat-tolerant (HSI<0.50), medium heat-tolerant (0.5≤HSI<1), medium heat-susceptible (1≤HSI<1.5) and highly heat-susceptible (HSI>1.5). 【Result】 The average maximum temperature at grain filling stage under heat stress condition was higher than that of the controls by 1.91℃ for winter wheat and 7.09℃ for spring wheat, respectively. TGW under heat stress condition was significantly lower than that of the corresponding control. According to the grading evaluation results of HSI, thirty-one and 48 highly heat-tolerant winter and spring wheat accessions accounted for 4.51% and 7.54% of the test materials, 19 and 58 highly heat-susceptible winter and spring wheat accessions accounted for 2.76% and 9.11% of the tested materials, and the rest were medium germplasms (medium heat-tolerant and medium heat-susceptible). According to the geographical distribution of wheat ecological regions, winter wheat from the southern wheat region (Southwestern Winter Wheat Zone, Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Spring and Winter Wheat Zone, and Middle and Lower Yangtze Valley Winter Wheat Zone) were more tolerant than that from northern wheat region (Northern Winter Wheat Zone, and Yellow and Huai River Winter Wheat Zone). For spring wheat, the average HSI of accessions from Xinjiang Spring and Winter Wheat Zone was 0.70, which was the most heat-tolerant, and 88.00% of the accessions belong to heat-tolerant (highly heat-tolerant or medium heat-tolerant) germplasms. In addition, the average HSI of spring wheat from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) with 0.88 showed heat-tolerant. The synthetic hexaploid wheats from CIMMYT had the weakest heat tolerance, with an average HSI of 1.18, of which 69.58% were heat-susceptible germplasms (medium heat-susceptible and highly heat-susceptible). 【Conclusion】 Delayed sowing or planting in environment with high temperatures can make wheat encounter high temperature stress at grain filling stage. High-throughput method based on the HSI of TGW was performed to evaluate heat tolerance of 1 325 winter and spring wheat germplasms. Overall, one hundred and three heat-tolerant germplasms with high yield potential were identified, which could be used as parents developing heat-tolerant wheat varieties. |
