Core Viewpoint - The Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences has achieved a significant breakthrough in wheat breeding through the first-ever direct hybridization of diploid rye with hexaploid common wheat, resulting in the new wheat variety "Jimai 61" [1][2]. Group 1: Breakthrough in Wheat Breeding - The new wheat variety "Jimai 61" has been approved by Shandong Province, marking a major advancement in distant hybridization breeding for wheat [1]. - The breeding process involved 13 years of research, utilizing rye AR132 as the paternal parent and common wheat variety Zhouyuan 9369 [2]. - "Jimai 61" is recognized as a "five-good variety," achieving multiple breakthroughs in quality, yield, disease resistance, and stress tolerance [2]. Group 2: Characteristics and Performance - "Jimai 61" addresses the issues of insufficient protein and gluten content in strong gluten wheat, achieving a synergistic improvement in both quality and quantity traits [3]. - The variety exhibits strong winter hardiness with a cold resistance rating of 2, a plant height of 72.8 cm, and a strong lodging resistance [3]. - In production trials in Shandong Province, "Jimai 61" achieved an average yield of 614.6 kg per mu, which is a 2.9% increase compared to the control variety Jinan 17 [3]. Group 3: Future Implications - The successful development of "Jimai 61" overcomes challenges associated with distant hybridization, such as low compatibility and low seed set rates, providing a model for future breeding efforts [3]. - The team plans to promote trial planting of "Jimai 61" to further evaluate its production performance and explore its breeding value [3].

Core Viewpoint - The Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences has achieved a significant breakthrough in wheat breeding through distant hybridization, resulting in the development of a new hexaploid wheat variety "Jimai 61" using diploid rye as a parent [2][3]. Group 1: Breakthrough in Wheat Breeding - The new wheat variety "Jimai 61" is the first to be developed directly from the hybridization of diploid rye and hexaploid common wheat, marking a major advancement in distant hybridization breeding [2]. - The breeding process took 13 years, utilizing rye AR132 as the paternal parent and common wheat variety Zhouyuan 9369, overcoming significant genetic challenges [3]. Group 2: Characteristics of Jimai 61 - Jimai 61 exhibits superior quality and resistance traits, addressing issues such as insufficient protein and gluten content in strong gluten wheat, and achieving a high level of cold resistance [4]. - The variety has a plant height of 72.8 cm, strong lodging resistance, an average of 364,000 ears per mu, 40 grains per ear, and a thousand-grain weight of 46.9 grams, with an average yield of 614.6 kg per mu, which is a 2.9% increase over the control variety [4]. Group 3: Implications for Future Breeding - The successful development of Jimai 61 provides a model for overcoming challenges in distant hybridization, such as low compatibility and long breeding cycles, and sets a foundation for creating breakthrough wheat varieties that surpass Jimai 22 [4]. - The team plans to promote field trials of Jimai 61 to further evaluate its production performance and explore its breeding value [4].