281 Journal of Cereal Research 12(3): 281-289 Research Article Marker-trait association for fertility restoration using Rf8 gene in Triticum timopheevii based male sterile cytoplasm of wheat Harmeet Singh Bakala 1 , Puja Srivastava *1 , Vinod 2 , Ankita 1 , Achla Sharma 1 , Gurvinder Singh Mavi 1 1 Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, India 2 Division of Genetics,Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi-110012, India Article history Received: 24 Sep., 2020 Revised: 5 Dec., 2020 Accepted: 19 Dec., 2020 *Corresponding author Email: pujasrivastava@pau.edu © Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research Abstract Heterosis is an important way to improve yield and quality for wheat. Effective restoration of fertility, its genetic control however remains elusive. Among 9 reported fertility restorer genes for Triticum timopheevii cytoplasm, Rf8 has been mapped on chromosome 2DS. Two F2populations from crosses,CMS BWL-5203/R-6 and PHW-1 were grown in 2018 off-season at Punjab Agricultural University Regional Research Station, Keylong (H.P) to study the effcacy and robustness of markers linked with Rf8. Data was recorded on extent of fertility restoration and three linked markers namely Xwmc503, Xgwm296 and Xwmc112 were used for this study. Among these, Xwmc503 present at 3.3 cM away from Rf8 showed signifcant association with fertility restoration in both the crosses. In contrast, marker Xgwm296 linked at 5.8 cM did not reveal signifcant association in any population. However, the third marker Xwmc112 did not get amplifed in any of the populations. Xwmc503 marker thus can potentially be useful for selecting restorers with Rf8 gene which further could be used for transferring this very gene into potentially elite genotypes to enrich hybrid male parental pool. Keywords: Rf8, fertility restoration, hybrid wheat, cytoplasmic genetic male sterility, SSR markers. 1. Introduction Globally, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the second most important crop after maize. Its contribution is appraised to 21% of food calories and 20% of protein to more than 4.5 billion people, especially in developing countries including India and China (Shewry and Hey 2015). Across the world, wheat is grown over 217 million hectares land during 2019-20 with overall production of about 764 million metric tonnes (USDA 2020). In wheat, the rate of yield gain has been reduced over the last decade. To meet out the projected demand of food production in near future, there is need to explore alternate approaches to surpass the yield barriers and make wheat cultivation more remunerative. In that scenario, one of the most feasible options is to reap the yield benefts from heterosis (Pickett 1993, Whitford et al., 2013). Besides signifcant yield advantages, hybrids have also been reported to exhibit improved yield stability (Muhleisen et al., 2014). Exploiting hybrid vigor in wheat through development of hybrids is considered promising, as it offers a mean of meeting global food demand due to yield heterosisin the wake of variable climatic changes in years to come (Boeven 2016). Hybrid wheat research is being re-initiated across wheat breeding groups in the world. With hybrid wheat consortia of public institutes in USA to private sector Bayer and Syngenta initiating research & development in the area. However, the major challenges for its success are improved restoration and cost of seed production with respect to purelines. Reduction in cost of hybrid seed production in turn depends upon development of an effcient system evoking out-crossing in wheat. The highly self-pollinated nature of wheat plant with chasmogamous fower habit demands a shift in pollination system to facilitate heterosis breeding. That is to say the Homepage: http://epubs.icar.org.in/ejournal/index.php/JWR Citation Bakala HS, P Srivastava, Vinod, Ankita, A Sharma and GS Mavi 2020. Marker- trait association for fertility restoration using Rf8gene in Triticum timopheevii based male sterile cytoplasm of wheat. Journal of Cereal Research 12(3): 281-289. http:// doi.org/ 10.25174/2582-2675/2020/105169