ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Genetic Evaluation and Breeding Strategies
under Water Deficit Environment to Develop
the Drought Tolerant Wheat Germplasm
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1
Institute of Forest Sciences Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
63100, Pakistan
2
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture & Environment, The Islamia University
of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan
3
Biotechnology and Germplasm Resources Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Kunming 650205, China
4
Technical Services Department, Fatima Fertilizers Limited, Lahore, Pakistan
5
Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
63100, Pakistan
Submission date: 2024-02-23
Final revision date: 2024-03-27
Acceptance date: 2024-04-27
Online publication date: 2024-08-05
Corresponding author
Hafiz Ghulam Muhu-Din Ahmed
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture & Environment, The Islamia University
of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan
Yawen Zeng
Biotechnology and Germplasm Resources Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Kunming 650205, China
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ABSTRACT
Wheat stands out as the most extensively cultivated cereal crop and serves as a primary food source
across numerous regions worldwide. Therefore, to assess wheat breeding material for sustained food
security, an experiment was carried out. The research material comprised 44 genotypes, encompassing
8 lines, 4 testers, and 32 F1 generations utilized for the assessment of various indices, including plant
height (PH), flag leaf area (FLA), spikelet per spike (SPS), grain per spike (GPS), spike length (SL),
1000-grain weight (TGW), tillers per plant (TP), grain yield per plant (GYP), biological yield per plant
(BYP), harvest index (HI), and relative water content (RWC). The data obtained from the studied
attributes underwent an analysis of variance to discern significant differences among the lines and
testers for each evaluated trait. The results revealed notable variations, indicating the significance of
both genetic factors and environmental conditions on trait expression. Among the evaluated traits, Line
(L3) and Tester (T2) consistently demonstrated the genotypes exhibiting good combining ability for both
general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA). Such favorable combining ability
suggests that the offspring resulting from crosses involving Line L3 and tester T2 are likely to inherit
desirable traits for drought tolerance. Particularly, the cross between Line L3 and tester T2 mentioned
exceptional performance in most of the studied traits and proved to be a promising combination for withstanding drought conditions. The observed variations in the performance of different lines and
testers under different environments emphasize the importance of selecting genotypes with adaptive
traits for specific conditions. By examining dominant and additive gene action, researchers can better
understand the genetic basis of drought tolerance in wheat. Consequently, the recommendation is
to enhance the production of the varieties that are superior performers with improved attributes by
focusing on selection in later (F3-F5) segregating generations in the wheat breeding program.