Studies on genetic variability for drought tolerance in advance lines of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell)
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Date
2021-08
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CCSHAU, Hisar
Abstract
The present investigation consists of 40 advance lines of wheat raised in RBD design with 3 replications in the Rabi 2019-20 at Research Farm Area of Wheat and Barley section, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, with the objective of assessment of the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path analysis. Observations were recorded for 16 morpho-physiological traits viz., days to heading, days to anthesis, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of effective tillers per plant, spike length (cm), number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, biological yield per plant (g), grain yield per plant (g), harvest index (%), thousand grain weight (g), NDVI, SPAD, CTD and DTI under irrigated and drought sown conditions. The findings of the analysis of variance showed that there was significant genetic variability in grain yield and its contributing traits. The magnitude of PCV estimations were greater than that of comparable GCV estimates, implying that environmental factors were also influencing genotype expression. The combined analysis of correlation coefficient analysis and path coefficient analysis revealed that the characters, namely, harvest index, biological yield per plant, thousand grain weight, number of grains per spike, NDVI, SPAD and CTD were the major yield attributing characters and hence; emphasis should be given to these traits while programming any plant breeding programme to develop drought tolerant cultivars. On the basis of drought tolerance index advance wheat lines viz., BRW 3806, C 306, NW 7049, WH 1164, PBW 757, DBW 88, DBW 221, DBW 302, DBW 187, WH 1124, HD 3347, HD 3271 and PBW 824 were found to be tolerant to drought stress. So, these lines can be used for further breeding programme for development of drought tolerant wheat varieties.