QTL analysis for wheat falling number in a recombinant inbred line population segregated with 1BL/1RS translocation in a rainfed agricultural area of China

Falling number (FN) is an inner quality trait in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) ultimately determining the end use of wheat kernels. In this 3-year study, 171 recombinant inbred lines derived from Chuannong17 (a 1BL/1RS tranlocation parent) × Mianyang11 were planted in the Sichuan Basin, a rainfed agricultural area in southwestern China. In this climate, we found that FN had significant differences between 1BL/1RS translocation lines and non-1BL/1RS translocation lines in two of the 3 years and the heavy fluctuation of rainfall and temperature resulted in decreasing FN in grain filling period. We used 191 simple sequence repeats markers to construct a genetic linkage map and then detected 11 additive effect FN quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosomes 2B, 3D, 4A, 4D, 6B and 7D, explaining 5.48–31.91% of the phenotypic variance. The FN QTL on chromosomes 4A, 4D and 6B were major or stable and detected at least in 2 years, whereas the Qfn.sicau-3D.1 in 2015 year explained the maximum phenotypic variation (about 31.91%). Furthermore, FN QTLs additive and epistatic effects as well as their interactions with environment were estimated by a mixed linear model approach. We found that the additive effect QTLs had no significant additive × environment interaction, while the paired QTLs had significant additive × additive epistatic effects however none had a significant additive × additive epistasis × environment interaction effect, excluding the paired QTLs Qfn.sicau-3B/Qfn.sicau-5B.