Synthetic hexaploid wheat (SHW), possesses numerous genes for drought that can help breeding for drought-tolerant wheat varieties.  We evaluated 10 root traits at seedling stage in 111 F₉ recombinant inbred lines derived from a F₂ population of a SHW line (SHW-L1) and a common wheat line, under normal (NC) and polyethylene glycol-simulated drought stress conditions (DC).  We mapped quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for root traits using an enriched high-density genetic map containing 120 370 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 733 diversity arrays technology markers (DArT) and 119 simple sequence repeats (SSRs).  With four replicates per treatment, we identified 19 QTLs for root traits under NC and DC, and 12 of them could be consistently detected with three or four replicates.  Two novel QTLs for root fresh weight and root diameter under NC explained 9 and 15.7% of the phenotypic variation respectively, and six novel QTLs for root fresh weight, the ratio of root water loss, total root surface area, number of root tips, and number of root forks under DC explained 8.5–14% of the phenotypic variation.  Here seven of eight novel QTLs could be consistently detected with more than three replicates.  Results provide essential information for fine-mapping QTLs related to drought tolerance that will facilitate breeding drought-tolerant wheat cultivars.

Agricultural information cooperative services (AICS) are now becoming an important aspect of agriculture informatization. This study offers an ontological conception of the agricultural production process, establishing operational divisions corresponding to both the stages and the fundamental information requirements of the dairy industry production process in China, yielding a process ontology for the dairy industry as well as a business chain model. A framework for a dairy industry information cooperative service system was established, with service functions realized in a prototype system. The resulting agricultural process ontology built on the basis of biological characteristics has advantages as a classification standard for agricultural information; whereas the business chain model based on this agricultural process ontology allows for an effective distribution of agricultural information cooperative services. This study outlines a concept and demonstrates a prototype of a cooperative service capable of integrating diverse online agricultural information relevant to the dairy industry in China.