Chromosomal alterations in the karyotype of triticale in comparison with the parental forms : 2. Heterochromatin of the wheat chromosomes.

Wheat chromosomes of the primary winter hexaploid and octoploid triticales and of the parental durum and common wheat varieties were studied using morphometric analysis. The size of some heterochromatic segments was shown to change in triticale. Telomeric and intercalary C-bands both increased and decreased in size whereas centromeric bands only increased. The size variability of C-bands in triticale B-genome chromosomes decreased in most of the cases and increased only for several specific C-bands. The C-bands of homologous B-genome chromosomes changed in the same direction in both triticale forms. The changes in size of the C-bands found in R-genome chromosomes detected earlier in these triticale forms (Badaeva et al. 1986) were shown to coincide in their pattern with the size changes of C-bands in homeological B-genome chromosomes. Our data are indicative of regular, directed chromosomal changes in the triticale karyotype.