Genetic mapping and QTL analysis of flour color and milling yield related traits using recombinant inbred lines in hard red spring wheat

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) flour ash content and color are very important properties of flour quality, because they greatly affect the quality of the fi nal product. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) influencing flour color and milling properties of hard red spring wheat were mapped on a genetic linkage map comprised of 531 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) marker loci. Composite interval mapping with 139 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was used to identify QTL within and across three field environments. Twenty-eight QTL influenced flour color and milling properties and were mapped on 11 wheat chromosomes. Quantitative trait loci clusters were identifi ed on six chromosomes: 1A, 1B, 5A, 5B, 5D, and 7B. The marker Xbarc130 that is near the hardness locus on chromosome 5D was linked to fi ve QTL influencing multiple traits. These six QTL clusters explained a substantial variation in flour color and milling properties, including those traits that were correlated. These results aid our understanding of the genetic basis of these traits. The marker loci linked to these QTL may be useful in increasing the frequency of desirable alleles during the early generations of breeding populations.