The inheritance of wheat grain longevity: a comparison between induced and natural ageing

Seed longevity is an important trait for both ex situ genebanks and the seed industry. It is partially determined by genetic factors, but is also dependent on the environmental conditions experienced by the mother plant during seed maturation, as well as those imposed during the post-harvest and storage periods. For practical reasons, the variation in longevity has repeatedly been analysed by treating fresh seed to various induced ageing protocols, but the extent to which these procedures mimic the natural ageing process remains debatable. Here, a comparison was attempted between the wheat genomic regions identified by biparental mapping as harbouring determinants of viability loss identified in grain which had been either aged artificially or had been stored long term. Only one locus proved to be shared, but even here, the parental origin of the positive allele differed. Correlation analysis revealed no relationship between various induced ageing treatments and long-term storage.