Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004.
The influence of high molecular weight glutenin subunits encoded by Glu A 1 locus was analysed by transferring alleles coding for these subunits from five different accessions of two diploid (T. urartu and T. boeoticum) and a tetraploid (T. dicoccoides) wild progenitor species into T. durum cv. PBW 34 lacking Glu A 1 locus. The backcross derivatives carrying novel alleles at Glu A1 locus were selected through SDS-PAGE The study revealed improvement of gluten strength and protein content in durum wheat derivatives as compared to the durum cultivar PBW 34. The SDS value of interspecific derivatives carrying Ax and Ay subunits from T. urartu accession 5301 ranged from 47.5 to 60.0 ml with an average increase of 34% over the durum parent. Addition of novel alleles from three accessions of T. dicoccoides resulted in an increase of 11.75 ml SDS value on mean basis. There was also increase in protein content of durum derivatives from T. urartu, T. boeoticum and T. dicoccoides upto 22.2, 14.0 and 54.0 per cent respectively.
Triticum species, glutenin subunits, protein content, gluten strength, bread making quality
