CHARACTERISATION OF PRE-HARVEST SPROUTING TOLERANT LINES OF WHEAT
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
One of the first and most significant cereal crops to be produced worldwide is wheat (Triticumaestivum L). It is the primary cereal crop and the principal source of nourishment for millions of Indians, second only to rice. Wheat is traded more globally than all other crops combined. With a global production of 749 million tonnes in 2016, wheat surpassed maize as the second-most produced crop. The crop is grown on 30 million hectares of land overall in India, producing 93 million tonnes at a productivity of 2.98 tonnes per hectare. In Assam, wheat is sown in November and harvested in March or April, which frequently falls within the pre-monsoon rainy season and negatively affects seed production. Pre-harvest sprouting can significantly reduce the nutritional value and processing quality of seeds in addition to decreasing wheat production.
Breeding for pre-harvest sprouting tolerancein wheat is under progress at the University and a few lines have been developed. Characterisation of these lines following DUS test guidelines for various morphological characters and confirmation of pre-harvest sprouting tolerance is required for recommendation of the lines for cultivation in pre-harvest sprouting prone areas with aberrant rainfall pattern.
In the present study, evaluation of five pre-harvest sprouting tolerant lines (PHST 1-1, PHST-1-5, PHST-4-3, PHST-7-3, PHST-7-3-1) along with two check varieties (DBW-39 and HD-2967) for DUS characteristics as per Guidelines for the Conduct of Test for DUS (PlantVarietyJournalofIndia.Vol.1(1),2007) was carried out in a field experiment laid out in Randomised Block Design with three replications. The study also involved evaluation of the lines pre-harvest sprouting and incidence of diseases in field conditions. Significant variation was observed among the genotypes for characters such as plant growth habit, ear: time of emergence, flag leaf: waxiness of sheath, ear: waxiness, plant length, ear: length, awn: length, grain:colouration with phenol, 1000-seed weight and yield. The check varieties DBW-39 and HD-2967 and a pre-harvest sprouting tolerant line PHST 1-1 has shown in-ear sprouting. Among these three genotypes, the highest in-ear sprouting was observed in HD-2967. No major wheat diseases were observed during the study. However, all the genotypes were affected by Sooty mold/ Black head mold as the crop was kept in the field for prolong period to expose the crop to pre-monsoon shower for the purpose of observation of in-ear sprouting.