Genetic dissection on wheat flour quality traits in two related populations

Improvement of protein and starch quality is an important breeding objective for various wheat-based end products. The objectives of this study were to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for flour protein content, wet gluten content, residue gluten content, gluten index, sedimentation volume, and rapid viscosity analysis parameters using two mapping populations. A total of 56 and 77 additive QTLs were detected in the NG population (derived from Gaocheng 8901 and Nuomai 1) and the SG population (derived from Shannong 01-35 and Gaocheng 9411), respectively. Of these QTLs, 20 additive QTLs from NG and 34 additive QTLs from SG accounted for more than 10 % of the phenotypic variance. All of the QTLs were distributed on 19 wheat chromosomes. At least 13 QTLs were detected in both environments in the two populations. Six pairwise common QTLs were found in the two populations. This study identified eight QTLs clusters (the number of QTLs ≥2) from NG and four QTLs clusters from SG. There was an important location flanking markers Glu-D1 and wPt3743 on chromosome 1D, which showed that they are pleiotropic or co-located QTLs. Most of the QTLs had higher phenotypic variation (>10 %). This study will facilitate the generation of improved wheat varieties with good quality via molecular-marker-assisted breeding.