GrainGenes

SAATZUCHT DONNAU GES.M.B.H. & COKG.
Saatzuchtstrabe 11, A-2301, Gross Enzersdorf, Austria.

J. Lafferty and H. Bistrich. [p. 16]

With the beginning of July 2000, the Austrian seed production companies Probstdorfer Saatzucht and Saatbau Linz merged their breeding departments. The newly founded company, Saatzucht Donau (managed by Johann Birschitzky), will provide the mother companies with varieties to be marketed independently by Probstdorfer Saatzucht and Saatbau Linz. The potential benefits of this merger will be an increased efficiency by combining breeding programs and fostering intensive cooperation between the two breeding stations in Probsdorf and Reichersberg, which represent quite diverse climatic conditions (dry, continental and more humid, respectively.). The Probstdorf station will focus on breeding high-quality winter, spring, and winter durum wheats (Franziska Löschenberger), spring barley (brewing quality), and double-rowed winter barley (Andreas Fleck). The Reichersberg breeding program will concentrate on average baking quality and feed wheat (Anton Neumayer) and two-row winter barley (Franz Oynhausen).

An easy method for identifying Glu-A1 alleles 1 and 2* and Glu-B1 7+9. [p. 16]

During routine screening of wheat breeding lines with SDS-PAGE for the composition of HMW-glutenin, additional bands were observed constantly. Two of the bands were associated clearly with the Glu-A1 alleles 1 and 2* and are both situated between bands 5 and 7. The band appearing together with allele 1 is in the upper third of the space between bands 5 and 6 and the band associated with 2* is in the lower third, only slightly above band 6. These Ay-bands, as we call them, are particularly useful in differentiating between lines with an HMW-glutenin of either 2*/2+12 or 0/2+12. Even on gels with a less than ideal separation of 2 and 2*, the Ay-band made the presence of 2* clear (Fig. 1). The intensity of both Ay-bands was similar and in the range of 4-8 % of all HMW-glutenins (measured by densitometry).

A similar situation was observed in the case of Glu-B1 7+9. In the Probstdorf breeding material, this is the dominating Glu-B1 allele. When separated with Glu-D1 5+10, differentiating alleles 9 and 10 often is difficult and a clear decision whether Glu-B1 allele 7+9 or 7 alone is present can not be made. We observed another band below 12 in the presence of 7+9, which made the identification this allele easy. This band was not as clear and distinct as the Ay-bands but constantly observed nevertheless (Fig. 2).

In both cases, the additional bands were well visible in fresh probes but did not show up in probes that had been crushed a week or more in advance.