THE HIGH-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT GLUTENIN SUBUNIT COMPOSITION OF SOVIET WHEAT-VARIETIES

One hundred and twenty-eight wheat varieties bred in the Soviet Union were screened for the composition of high-molecular-weight (HMW) subunits of glutenin. In general, variability was low compared to that seen in varieties from other countries. However, varieties from different regions showed distinctive patterns, in some cases clearly due to the use of particular parents in certain breeding programmes, but in others possibly due to the adaptive value of particular alleles to the environmental conditions under which the varieties were bred. For example, among spring varieties, the Glu-D1 allele encoding subunits 2 + 12 was more common in varieties from areas with limited rainfall than was the allele encoding subunits 5 + 10. The pattern of HMW glutenin subunits amongst varieties with superior bread-making quality showed few differences from that amongst bread-making varieties of lower quality.