Abstract
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS), which is the precocious germination of the grains in the spike before it is harvest, isthe serious problem in the reduction of end-use quality in wheat. In this study, the relationships among PHS tolerance, agronomicand grain characteristics in Korean wheat cultivars were evaluated for two years to improve PHS tolerance in Korean wheatbreeding programs. Grain characteristics including 1,000 grain weight and grain size (length, width and thickness), PHS toleranceconducted by the mist spray in the humid chamber (PHS-MS) and germination index (GI), and Agronomic traits includingheading date, maturing date, culm length, awn length and the number of grain/spike, were significantly influence by genotype,year and the interaction between year and genotype, except in spike length, the number of spike/m2and test weight. PHStolerance and GI were significantly correlated with 1,000-grain weight (r = 0.618, and r = 0.528, respectively) and length, widthand thickness of grain, although no significant relationship between agronomic traits and PHS tolerance was found in Koreanwheat cultivars. PHS-MS also showed positively correlated with GI value (r = 0.770, P < 0.001). White grain cultivars showedhigher PHS-MS and GI values (61.86% and 0.58, respectively) than red grain cultivars (11.89% and 0.18, respectively). Whitegrain cultivars also showed higher values in length, width and thickness of grain than red grain cultivars. Among red graincultivars, Alchan, Goso, Suan and Sukang showed lower values in both PHS-MS and GI (< 2.63% and < 0.05, respectively)and these cultivars could be used to improve PHS tolerance in Korean wheat breeding programs.
