Wheat-rye homoeologous pairing in both ABRR and (0-7)A(0-7)BRR plants takes place preferentially between homoeologous chromosomes of group 1. This suggests either a much greater affinity between wheat and rye chromosomes for this group or more efficient pairing initiation because of common nucleolar organizer activities. 1A-1R associations were more frequent than 1B-1R associations though in both cases pairing was restricted mostly to the long arms. From the variation in these particular chromosome arms the three following factors might hinder the wheat-rye pairing: regular homologous pairing of rye chromosomes, presence of prominent telomeric C-bands in rye chromosomes or occurrence of wheat-wheat homoeologous pairing.