A. J. Rathjen

Responses of wheat and barley genotypes to toxic concentrations of soil boron

SummaryThe growth and yield of seven wheat and two barley cultivars or lines, previously found to show different degrees of boron tolerance under field conditions, were compared in a pot experiment at a range of soil boron treatments. Soil treatments ranged up to 150 mg/kg applied B. Extractable B in soils ranged up to 103 mg/kg.At the highest B treatment seedling emergence was delayed, but the percentage emergence was not reduced. The degree of boron toxicity symptom expression varied between the wheat cultivars and lines, with the two most tolerant, Halberd and (Wq*KP)*WmH)/6/12, displaying the least symptoms.The concentration of boron applied to the soil which produced a significant depression of growth and yield varied between cultivars. For example, the yield of (Wq*KP)*WmH)/6/12 was not affected at the 100 mg/kg applied boron treatment, while the grain yield for (Wl*MMC)/W1/10 was significantly reduced at the 25 mg/kg treatment.There was a linear increase in boron concentration in tillers at the boot-stage with increasing concentration of boron in the soil. The most boron tolerant genotypes had the lowest tissue boron concentrations in each of the treatments. Halberd and (Wq*KP)*WmH)/6/12 had approximately half the boron concentrations of the more sensitive genotypes at the 25 and 50 mg/kg treatments. Differential tolerance of boron within the tissue was also observed. Both Stirling and (Wl*MMC)/W1/10 had significantly reduced total dry matter and grain yields at the 25 mg/kg treatment, while the concentrations of boron in boot stage tillers at this treatment were 118 and 100 mg/kg, respectively. On the other hand, Halberd and (Wq*KP)*WmH)/6/12 had tissue boron concentrations of 144 and 131 mg/kg, respectively, at the 50 mg/kg treatment but yield was unaffected.The relative responses in the pot experiment, for wheat, were in close agreement with field results. Halberd and (Wq*KP)*WmH)/6/12 had the highest grain yields, with the lowest concentrations of boron in the grain when grown under high boron conditions in the field. In pots these two genotypes proved to be the most tolerant of boron. For barley the advantage in grain yield in the field, expressed by WI-2584 compared with Stirling, was not repeated in pots. WI-2584 was, however, more tolerant than Stirling on the basis of total dry matter production.The results show that useful variation in boron tolerance exists among wheat, and that breeding should be able to provide cultivars tolerant to high levels of boron.

Physiological and genetic control of the tolerance of wheat to high concentrations of boron and implications for plant breeding

Physiological and genetic studies have been undertaken to further the understanding of genetic variation in response to high concentrations of B in the soil and so facilitate the breeding of tolerant varieties for cultivation in high B regions. Genetic variation in response to high concentrations of B has been identified for a number of crop and pasture species of southern Australia, including wheat, barley, oats, field peas and annual pasture medics. The wheat variety Halberd, which was the most widely grown variety in Australia during the 1970s and early 1980s, is the most tolerant of the current Australian wheat varieties. The mechanism of tolerance for all species studied is reduced accumulation of B by tolerant genotypes in both roots and shoots. Results from experiments of uptake kinetics indicate that control of B uptake is a non-metabolic process. The response of wheat to high B supply is under the control of several major additive genes, one of which has been located to chromosome 4A.

Screening for boron tolerance in wheat (T. aestivum) by solution culture in filter paper

A new screening technique for tolerance to high concentrations of boron, namely a filter paper technique, and a soil experiment were compared to investigate the response of wheat genotypes known to differ in tolerance to high concentrations of boron.Under high boron concentrations in filter papers, the more tolerant genotypes had significantly longer roots than those of the more sensitive genotypes. There was no significant correlation between the root lengths at the control treatment and the other three boron treatments (50, 100, 150 mg B L-1). Thus, the differences in root lengths at the high boron treatments could not be attributed to inherent differences in root growth but to the genetic variation in response to high boron concentrations among varieties.Root lengths at the three boron treatments in filter papers were highly significantly correlated with the three characters determined for plants grown in soil containing high levels of boron, namely the concentrations of boron in the shoots, plant dry weight and plant symptoms, indicating that root length could be used as a selection criterion in a genetic study or breeding program for boron tolerance.

Major gene control of tolerance of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to high concentrations of soil boron

SummaryThe genetic control of tolerance of wheat to high concentrations of soil boron was studied for five genotypes. Each genotype represented one of five categories of response to high levels of boron, ranging from very sensitive to tolerant. Tolerance to boron was expressed as a partially dominant character, although the response of an F1 hybrid, relative to the parents, varied with the level of boron applied. The F1 hybrids responded similarly to the more tolerant parent at low B treatments and intermediate to the parents at higher treatments. Ratios consistent with monogenic segregation were observed for the F2 and F3 generations for the combinations (WI*MMC) × Kenya Farmer, Warigal × (WI*MMC) and Halberd × Warigal. The three genes, Bo1, Bo2 and Bo3, while transgressive segregation between two tolerant genotypes, G61450 and Halberd, suggested a fourth locus controlling tolerance to boron.

Screening rough-seeded lupins (Lupinus pilosus Murr. and Lupinus atlanticus Glads.) for tolerance to calcareous soils

Soil- and solution-based screening methods were used to identify interspecific and intraspecific variation in lupins for tolerance to calcareous soils. Plants were grown for 21 days in a calcareous soil (pH 8.2; 50% CaCO3; moisture content 90% of field capacity) for soil-based screening and in nutrient solution containing 15 mM KHCO3 for solution-based screening. Chlorosis as an indicator of tolerance was recorded. Lupinus pilosus Murr. had the most tolerant genotypes and had the greatest range of intraspecific variation. Most genotypes of Lupinus atlanticus Glads. and Lupinus angustifolius L. were moderately intolerant, although two genotypes of L. atlanticus appeared to be tolerant. Lupinus albus L. had moderately tolerant to moderately intolerant genotypes, whilst the single genotypes of Lupinus cosentinii Guss. and Lupinus digitatus Forsk. appeared tolerant. In a field study six genotypes of L. pilosus identified in the soil-based screening as differing in their tolerance to the calcareous soil were grown on comparable calcareous (pH ∼8.3; topsoil 3% CaCO3, subsoil 13% CaCO3) and non-calcareous (pH ∼7.3) soils within a paddock. Chlorosis and nutrient concentrations in the youngest leaves were measured 53 days after sowing, whilst grain yield was estimated at harvest. Despite the soil containing a much lower CaCO3 content than used in the screening method, the field study confirmed that moderately intolerant to intolerant genotypes had lower relative grain yields than more tolerant genotypes. Chlorosis rankings of the genotypes were correlated between field and the screening studies. It is suggested that the incorporation of genes conferring tolerance to calcareous soils into high yielding, agronomically suitable genotypes of L. pilosus should be an important objective in a lupin breeding program for calcareous soils.

Method for screening bread wheat for tolerance to boron

A new method for screening wheat for boron tolerance has been developed to overcome the problems of methods used in the past. Seedlings were grown for 10 days while suspended over B-rich solutions. Their root lengths were then measured as an index of tolerance. Five varieties of wheat were screened at seven concentrations of B. Results were obtained more quickly and easily than from the alternative methodologies and compared favourably. Screening of 128 doubled haploid lines from a cross between Halberd and (W1*MMC) suggested that transgressive segregation had occurred.

The response of Pisum sativum L. germplasm to high concentrations of soil boron

SummaryTolerance to high levels of boron in the soil is an important aspect of the adaptation of crop varieties to southern Australian conditions. This paper reports investigations aimed at exploring the extent of genetic variation in Pisum sativum and at defining appropriate selection criteria for selection for boron tolerance in breeding programs.A collection of 617 accessions of Pisum was screened in controlled conditions and visually assessed for symptoms of boron toxicity. A high proportion of accessions were sensitive with only 3.5% being more tolerant than any of the Australian varieties. Relatively high proportions of tolerant and moderately tolerant accessions originated from Asia and South America.In a second experiment the responses of selected tolerant accessions were evaluated with respect to different parameters. The objectives were to confirm the performance of the putative boron tolerant accessions and identify appropriate parameters for selecting boron tolerant genotypes. In addition to the visual assessment of boron toxicity, measurements at the time of harvest included dry matter yield and concentration of boron in tissues. Symptom expression was highly correlated with dry matter yield and concentration of boron in tissues under high boron conditions and so could be used as a non-destructive selection criteria. A low degree of symptom expression by tolerant accessions could usually be attributed to low levels of boron in the vegetative tissues. The results of this study indicate that considerable genetic variation exists among exotic accessions of Pisum sativum and tolerance to boron could be transferred to sensitive varieties.

Genetic distance detected with RAPD markers among selected Australian commercial varieties and boron-tolerant exotic germplasm of pea (Pisum sativum L.)

The optimisation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis in pea was investigated and the results were applied to an analysis of five representative Australian varieties and five selected boron-tolerant accessions derived from different geographical regions. Genotypes were compared using 34 random primers (Operon Technologies, Alameda, CA) which generated 180 polymorphic bands. Genetic similarity among genotypes was estimated on the basis of the percentage of common bands between genotypes and a dendrogram was constructed by the unweighted pair grouping method. A pattern of RAPD reaction corresponding to two main groups was discerned. The genetic divergence between Australian varieties and the boron-tolerant accessions suggests an intensive back-crossing programme would be required to transfer boron tolerance to a locally adapted genetic background. Our results show RAPD to be useful for clarifying phylogenic relationships within a species and also to provide useful genetic markers for varietal identification in pea.

Shoot mineral composition and yield of wheat genotypes grown on a sodic and a non-sodic soil

A collection of wheat lines including 49 overseas and 35 Australian lines was grown in a 3-replicate randomised block design experiment at 2 sites (Two Wells and Roseworthy Campus, South Australia) during the 1994 growing season (June–December 1994). The aim of this investigation was to determine if elemental nutrients could be implicated in response to soil sodicity tolerance of wheat. Large grain yield differences and mineral concentrations were evident among different varieties including those from Australia. Several mineral concentrations in shoot, including manganese, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, boron, zinc and copper, taken up by these plants were correlated significantly with grain yield. The detrimental effects of sodium and boron concentrations on grain yields were less for local varieties than the overseas lines, because of lower average shoot concentrations and lower coefficients of variation associated with the Australian varieties. The grain yield reduction at a sodic site appeared to be due to both soil physical changes and nutritional changes, with the combined effects of nutrient deficiencies and toxicities accounting for 23% of the variation. Except for the large differences of boron and sodium concentrations, there appeared to be a similar magnitude of variability between the overseas wheat collection and the Australian wheats. The present study confirmed that the tetraploid and hexaploid wheats differ in sodium concentration or potassium : sodium ratio, in addition to other nutrient changes including potassium, manganese, magnesium and copper. However, sodium concentration (or potassium : sodium ratio) and boron were not sufficient enough to explain the variability in grain yield of all the Australian wheats studied, suggesting that other factors detrimental to wheat production in sodic soils need to be identified.

Genetics of tolerance to high concentrations of soil boron in peas (Pisum sativum L.)

SummaryThe inheritance of tolerance to high concentrations of soil boron in pea (Pisum sativum L.) was studied in five cross combinations and their reciprocals. Segregation patterns for boron response in F2 populations and F3 derived families were established by visual assessment of leaf damage. The segregation ratios were explained in terms of two major gene loci interacting in an additive manner with incomplete dominance at each locus. Evaluation of selected tolerant and susceptible families indicated that tolerant families contained a significantly lower concentration of boron in shoots than susceptible families.