Production and meiotic analysis of autotriploid Triticum speltoides and T. bicorne.

Autotriploid Triticum speltoides and T. bicorne (2n=3x=21) were produced by pollinating autotetraploids with pollen from their respective diploids. The autotriploid plants were vigorous, male sterile, and morphologically resembled their diploid parents. At meiosis, T. speltoides (3x) averaged 2.52 univalents, 0.42 rod bivalents, 2.03 ring bivalents, 4.48 trivalents, and 0.03 chain quadrivalents per cell, and T. bicorne (3x) had 2.30 univalents, 0.20 rod bivalents, 2.10 ring bivalents, and 4.70 trivalents. Panhandle trivalents made up 27% of the total trivalents, and involved 18% of the total number of chromosomes observed in T. bicorne (3x), and 26% and 17% in T. speltoides (3x), respectively. The observed chromosome pairing in both triploids was predicted well from the expressions developed by Alonso and Kimber.