Molecular characterization of low-temperature tolerance in cereals

加拿大约84%的耕地位于草原三省：艾伯塔省、萨斯喀彻温省和马尼托巴省。春季播种的作物在草原种植面积中占主导地位，但冬小麦等冬季作物最近出现了补充。秋播作物的优势是在春季提前生长，这延长了生长期，并导致了比春播作物更高的产量。对于冬小麦来说，较低的生产成本以及环境和生态效益是增加种植面积的另一个理由。然而，当前冬小麦品种的冬季生存潜力不足以持续地生存在极端寒冷的冬季温度下。因此，培育提高冬小麦存活率的品种将有利于冬小麦生产。此外，抗寒性状也可以转移到春播作物，这些作物易受早春或夏末霜冻的影响，从而降低粮食产量和品质。

About 84% of the arable land in Canada is located in the three Prairie Provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Spring-seeded crops dominate the Prairie acreage, but winter crops like winter wheat has lately emerged as a complement. Fall-seeded crops have the advantage of an early out-growth in spring which extends the growing season and results in higher yields than spring-seeded crops. For winter wheat, a low production cost in combination with environmental and ecological benefits are additional arguments for increased acreage. However, the winter survival potential in current winter wheat cultivars is inadequate to consistently survive extreme cold winter temperatures. Therefore, development of varieties with improved winter survival will benefit winter wheat production. In addition, the cold-hardiness traits could also be transferred to spring-seeded crops susceptible to early spring or late summer frosts that reduce grain yield and quality.