Seed longevity and its association with agronomic traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
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Date
2021-11-12
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Palampur
Abstract
The present study entitled “Seed longevity and its association with agronomic traits in wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.)” was carried out by packing the five wheat varieties of Himachal Pradesh in
HDPE bags and storing them under ambient storage conditions using completely randomized block
design in seed technology laboratory (August 2020- August 2021) to assess seed longevity in wheat
seeds. Following RBD in three replications to evaluate 11 agro-morphological traits, the
experimental material was planted in the field during rabi 2020-21. Data recorded over 12 months
after fixed bimonthly intervals revealed that most of the seed quality parameters viz., germination
per cent- first and final count, rate of germination, field emergence, dry matter of 10 seedlings,
vigour index-I and vigour index-II gradually declined, whereas electrical conductivity witnessed an
increasing trend with the advancement of storage period. Seed longevity of five wheat varieties of
Himachal Pradesh inferred from the germination- final count of the present study revealed
maintenance of germination- final count of more than 85% in variety HPW 349 upto 10 months and
in other 4 varieties beyond 12 months of storage. Aforesaid varieties were also characterized for
DUS traits that revealed 30 out of total 34 descriptors to be more informative in identification and
classification of five varieties under study. Field evaluation and further analysis of variance revealed
that the mean sum of squares due to genotypes were significant for all the agro-morphological traits
except spike length. High heritability (75-100%) coupled with high genetic advance was found for
days to 50% heading, plant height, peduncle length, days to physiological maturity, harvest index
and number of grains per spike traits. Variety, HPW 249 was the best performing variety for yield
and related traits. Correlation of germination after 12 months interval with 11 agromorphological
traits revealed a strong and positive association of seed longevity with number of grains per spike,
test weight, biological yield per plant, seed yield per plant and productive tillers per plant.Thereby
the possibility of designing an ideotype of wheat through selection for more number of tillers per
plant, more number of grains per spike and test weight accompanied with higher biological yield per
plant and seed yield per plant. Based on association analysis, this study presents an indirect
selection criterion based on some easily scorable agro-morphological parameters which have strong
association with seed longevity.