A genome-wide association study of arabinoxylan content in flour of triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack)

The adoption of triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack) by the food market is still limited due to its inferior technological quality compared to wheat when it comes to bread-making. However, there is continued interest in the use of triticale flour for food purposes owing to its rich content of bioactive compounds, particularly dietary fibre (DF). The primary constituent of triticale DF is arabinoxylan (AX). The intake of AX is associated with several health benefits, from prebiotic function to the regulation of post-prandial metabolism. Genetic research to identify breeding targets to improve the quality of triticale flour remains scarce. Particularly so in relation to bioactive compounds such as DF. In the present study, a diverse triticale collection was genotyped by means of DArTseq technology and phenotypically characterised in terms of total AX (TOT-AX), water-extractable AX (WE-AX), water-unextractable AX (WU-AX) contents in flour, and the proportion of WE-AX to TOT-AX (WE/TOT-AX). Seven significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were found. Two MTAs located on the short arm of chromosome 6B are consistent with a known QTL for WE-AX of bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ). Three MTAs, one located on chromosomes 4R, and two located on chromosome 5R are consistent with research on wheat-rye translocation and addition lines.