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Wheat cultivars are genetically crossed to improve end-use quality for traits as per demands of baking industry and broad consumer preferences. The processing and baking qualities of bread wheat are influenced by a variety of genetic make-ups, environmental factors and their interactions. Two wheat cultivars, WL711 and C306, derived recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with a population of 206, were used for phenotyping of quality-related traits. The genetic analysis of quality traits showed considerable variation for measurable quality traits, with normal distribution and transgressive segregation across the years. From the 206 RILs, few RILs were found to be superior to those of the parental cultivars for key quality traits, indicating their potential use for the improvement of end-use quality and suggesting the probability of finding new alleles and allelic combinations from the RIL population. Mapping analysis identified 38 putative QTLs for 13 quality-related traits, with QTLs explaining 7.9–16.8% phenotypic variation spanning over 14 chromosomes, i.e., 1A, 1B, 1D, 2A, 2D, 3B, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4D, 5D, 6A, 7A and 7B. In-silico analysis based on homology to the annotated wheat genes present in database, identified six putative candidate genes within QTL for total grain protein content, qGPC.1B.1 region. Major QTL regions for other quality traits such as TKW have been identified on 1B, 2A, and 7A chromosomes in the studied RIL population. This study revealed the importance of the combination of stable QTLs with region-specific QTLs for better phenotyping, and the QTLs presented in our study will be useful for the improvement of wheat grain and bread-making quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Hexaploid wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) dominates the list of the most important human food sources ever. Its complex genetic background is the reason behind the wide diversity that exists in nutritional as well as food end-product quality. High-molecular-weight glutenin sub-units ( HMW-GS) are the main grain storage proteins in the endosperm of wheat and related species. It is well established that the composition and quantity of allelic variation in HMW-GS genes substantially affect the taste and appearance of dough products and therefore work in this area is highly desired. RESULTS A significant positive effect on wheat dough quality traits was observed among near isogenic lines of HMW-GS sub-units 20 and 2.2 in wheat variety HD2329 during quality evaluation of data generated over 2 years. A remarkably significant ( P < 0.01) effect was observed on dough quality parameters like ratio of wet gluten/dry gluten, SDS sedimentation, farinogram parameters, and bread/chapatti traits whereas flour protein and dry gluten content showed an insignificant effect. CONCLUSION HMW-GS 20 was found to be superior to HMW-GS 2.2 in terms of dough quality and both the near isogenic lines developed by us were found to be highly superior to the recurrent parent HD2329. As we know that the improvement of flour quality based on superior HMW-GS alleles is necessary to meet changing consumer demand, the study can be of immense use to future researchers who can target these HMW sub-units 20 and 2.2 in breeding programmes for the improvement of wheat end-product quality. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture sector have seen a huge spike in research related to application of nanomaterials for increasing production of crop in last two decades. Zinc is one such micronutrient which is widely explored for use in agriculture as nanofertilizer or for other novel applications. Despite being the widely researched nutrient, almost negligible studies have been carried out studying the impact of leaching of zinc in soil after crop harvesting. In our present work we tried to explore the potential of zinc as nanofertilizer in wheat via studying its impact on biochemical, physiological, morphological and yield related parameters of wheat along-with leaching of zinc in soil. Wheat plants were grown to harvesting stage and were treated with three different concentrations of nano zinc oxide (40, 80, 120 ppm), zinc nitrate along-with a control setup having no external zinc supplement. Nano-zinc oxide at the concentration of 80 ppm showed the best results and causes maximum increase in plant height, seeds per spike, 100 seed weight, yield, and biomass accumulation compared to the control and zinc nitrate treatment. In case of 80 ppm nano zinc oxide spray, yield obtained was 19.94g which was significantly much higher than chemical zinc (6.96g) and control (4.38g). Nano zinc oxide application also caused better absorption of zinc and least amount of zinc was left in the soil when compared to control and zinc nitrate treatment. These results indicate that nano zinc oxide can be applied to wheat plants for enhanced yield, quality and at the same time being less harmful for environment. [Display omitted] • Nanofertilizers as a growth promoter in wheat plants. • Reducing leaching of zinc in soil. • Enhancement of beneficial soil microorganism. • Lessening harmful impact on environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]