Inheritance of the first internode elongation due to deep-seeding and ethylene treatment in wheat

It has been shown that deep-seeding and ethylene stimulate the elongation of the first internodes in wheat seedlings. In the present study, patterns of inheritance in the elongation of wheat first internodes and coleoptiles responding to deep-seeding and ethylene were examined using three crosses. Length of the coleoptile in F₂ segregants showed a simple unimodal distribution resembling a normal distribution both in deep-seeded and ethylene-treated plants. Except in one cross, however, length of the first internode in F₂ segregants showed a unimodal distributions with large transgressive segregation on the shorter length side in deep-seeded plants and the longer side exceeding the length of parents' first internodes in ethylene-treated plants. These results suggest that ability of plants to respond to ethylene, a regulatory factor for the elongation of the first internode in wheat, can be changed through genetic recombination.