Electrophoretic Analysis of Triticum Landraces From Nepal and Their Use For Improving Bread-Making Quality of Wheats1

The absence of certain high-molecular-weight subunits of gliadins normally present in hexaploid wheats was revealed during routine evaluation of wheat landraces collected from western Nepal. With the aid of SDS-PAGE and chromosomal counts it was possible to show that the germplasm was not tetraploid as first thought but indeedt hexaploid which was in accordance with the hypothesis that no indigenous tetraploid Triticum exist in Nepal. However, the missing subunits in the hexaploid landraces could be due to two possibilities: (i) there may be a deletion at the extreme end of the short arm of the ID chromosome, or (ii) there may be some suppression of the expression of genes coding for the gliadin subunits which were missing.

The possibility of utilising landraces with deleted parts of the ID chromosome in crossing with varieties of bread wheats (Trlticum aesticvum L.) with good protein quality has been discussed. Such crosses may yield at least some progenies possessing desirable traits of both parents, viz., horizontal disease resistance from a land race and good bread-making qualities and higher yields from a known variety or cultivar.