Breeding And Extension Of Wheat Cultivar "Lunxuan 987"

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most popular food crops in the world. Yield increase per hectare was mainly attributed to the genetic improvement and development in agronomic management techniques. Great achievements have been made in both yield and quality improvement by the traditional breeding method, i.e., crossing, since last century. The progress of wheat genetic improvement by the traditional method has been slowed down since 1980s. There are a lot of reasons for this. The limit of the traditional breeding method is one of the main reasons.The dwarf male sterility wheat is a dominant nuclear male sterile germplasm with dwarf marker gene. In the offspring of dwarf male sterility wheat, there is always one half of plants carrying gene Ms2 and RhtlO, which are sterile and short, and the other half of plants without the two genes, which are fertile and tall. Cross-pollination provides the opportunity for exchange and recombination of different genes, and self-pollination produces the genetic pure and stable lines. So dwarf male sterility wheat is an ideal tool in mass selection.20 parents were carefully selected, and crossed and then backcrossed with the dwarf male sterility wheat respectively. The recurrent selection population was formed by mixing the hybrids equally from each backcross. The elite fertile single plants were selected from the population after 3 recurrent selection, cross-pollination and limit pollination, and then further selected by pedigree method. The line from one of the selected plants numbered P93807 performed excellent in advanced yield trials, national list trials and the trials on fanner's land, and was released in the Northern Winter Wheat Zone. The registered name for this line is Luxuan 987.Lunxuan987 is a winter wheat cultivar, about 80 centimeter tall, with close architecture, good winter hardness, high ratio of productive tillers, optimum ratio of yield components, good resistances to powdery mildew and strip rust, great longevity of leaves and good maturity, test weight 770g/L, protein content 14.20%(on dry bases), Farinograph stability 2.2 min. Based on SDS-PAGE analysis, Lunxuan987 has Null on GluAl locus, 14+15 subunits on GluBl locus and 2+12 subunits on GluD1 locus. Lunxuan987 is characterized by its high yield potential, wide adaptability and yield stability.The optimum management procedures have been established based on the field trials on sowing time, seeding rate, irrigating, fertilizing, controlling of pests and diseases. Studies showed that the optimum seeding rate was 150 kg/ha and that relative late irrigation in spring is favorable for the improvement in the relationship between the population and individual plant development and, as the result, for increasing yield.Technique training, information exchange, field show and demonstration, advertisement were conducted in the new cultivar adapted area in order to make the new cultivar and managementtechniques available and acceptable to farmers. The net work comprised by research institute, seed company and farmers has been formed. Lunxuan987 was grown more than 6.6 million hectare. It was recommended by Ministry of Agriculture as one of the key cultivars in 2004 and 2005, and subsidized in Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin respectively in 2005.