Agronomic performance of introgression lines derived from a cross of common wheat with synthetic hexaploid amphiploid 530-1

This study characterized six introgression lines obtained from crossing two winter bread wheat varieties Albena and Slaveya with the D-genome synthetic hexaploid wheat 530-1. Phenotypically, the lines differed from the parents, as five of them expressed red spike color versus line 45-5 producing new coloration, identified as striped or banded glume pigmentation. All lines were taller, with longer ears and spikelets, later in heading time and less productive in grain yield than both wheat parents. They showed some positive traits in the field: optimal test weight (78–80 kg/hl), high thousand kernel weight (48–51 g), low sprouted seeds (0.3–1.5%), and high falling number (314-350 s). Two lines (38-7 and 46-7) exceeded the parents in grain protein content. In the competitive variety trial, Albena showed significantly higher sprouted grains (4.1%) and extreme measurements for a percentage of germination (99.0%) and germination index (83.0%) in 2022. The data identified Albena as a wheat variety with pre-harvest sprouting susceptibility. Of the lines, only 45-5 stood out with the lowest germination values and appeared as a promising genotype with resistance to pre-harvest sprouting. The introgression lines exerted useful genetic diversity for the studied traits and could serve as resources for quality improvement in wheat breeding programs.