Summary
Rye carries a gene(s) on the long arm of chromosome 5 which confers the ability to tolerate soils too copper-deficient for wheat. Because many South Australian soils are low in copper, copper deficiency in wheat is common. To overcome this problem, wheats were bred having the rye chromosome arm (5RL) attached to a wheat chromosome. The presence of the rye 5RL chromosome segment in four different wheat cultivars increased grain yield on copper-deficient soils by more than 100% on average. Effects in vegetative yields were also significant at stem extension. Copper concentrations were on average little higher in plant tissues of 5R lines than in the controls but copper uptake was greater, in proportion to yield. Possible mechanisms of the copper efficiency factor are discussed.
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Graham, R.D., Ascher, J.S., Ellis, P.A.E. et al. Transfer to wheat of the copper efficiency factor carried on rye chromosome arm 5RL. Plant Soil 99, 107–114 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370158
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370158