On the basis of tests and studies for many years, wheat cold source has been discovered in natural world. It is a donor material supplying a low temperature and causing stronger cooling effect, that is, the canopy temperature of its progeny can be descended universally and some non-cold type acceptor wheat can turn into cold type wheat having good metabolic functions under the condition of that acceptor wheat accepts the gamete of donor wheat supplying a low temperature. Contrast between wheat cold source and general wheat having no the ability of supplying a low temperature shows that second heat source temperature and plant temperature of wheat cold source not only are lower than those of general wheat but its root vigor, rate of awn etiolation, functional duration of leaf, chlorophyll content, soluble protein content, SOD activity, net photosynthetic rate, etc, are also more excellent than those of general wheat, and these all provide certain ecological and physiological bases for the distinction and selection of wheat cold source.
ZHANG Song-wu and WANG Chang-fa(Northwest Science and Technology University of Agriculture and Forestry, Yangling 712100)
