Environmental Effects on Male Fertility Restoration in Hybrid Wheat

The production of commercially acceptable wheat hybrids was expected soon after the discovery of the mechanism needed for hybrid seed production.Hybrid wheat has a large potential market of 30 million acres or more.It must be determined whether or not hybrids will yield significantly more than the high yielding conventional varieties. This study was initiated to determine what environmental factors interact with the fertility restorer genes in cytoplasmic male sterile restored wheat hybrids to give variability in expression of fertility under different environments.An additional objective was to determine whether pollen classification was as reliable in determining fertility as actual seed set. Some of the results of this investigation are: 1. Plastic-covered greenhouses are more favorable for fertility expression than glass greenhouses. 2. The increased sterility of hybrids grown in the glass greenhouse may be due to either higher temperature, higher light intensity, or a change in light quality. 3. A high degree of relationship was observed between seed set and viable pollen. Advisor: John W. Schmid