Speed breeding in winter bread wheat

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Agronomy and Plant Breeding Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran

2 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran

3 Cereal Dept. Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

Abstract

Speed breeding technique has recently been suggested to accelerate the generation time in cereal and some other crops. This technology is, however, less efficient in winter cereals due to vernalization requirement. To develop a speed breeding protocol for winter wheat, three winter wheat varieties including Zarineh, Gaspard, and Gascogen were raised in a controlled growth chamber under long photoperiod and high light intensity. To address seed dormancy and further shorten the growth duration of the plants, the embryo rescue technique was employed by culturing immature seeds in MS medium. The number of days to flowering, days to maturity, total leaves number, and kernels per spike were measured. The results showed that foliar application of gibberellic acid led to 7-10 days decline in seed-to-seed generation time compared to conventional vernalization by cooling. This study evidenced that 16/8 hours (day/night) photoperiod, 23000 lux (~ 328 µmol/m²/s) light intensity provided by a combination of white LEDs (80%) and purple growth light (20%) and 23/17° C (day/night) temperature was the best condition for speed breeding in winter wheats shortening the generation time to 3 months. This protocol makes it possible for the breeders to advance four generations of winter lines per annum.

Keywords: Speed breeding, vernalization, winter wheat, gibberellic acid, time, light, embryo culture

Keywords

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Iranian Journal of Field Crop Science
Volume 57, Issue 2
June 2026
Pages 143-157

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History

  • Receive Date: 01 December 2024
  • Revise Date: 05 March 2025
  • Accept Date: 26 March 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2026

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