Genetic variability study in Bread Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) under Temperate Conditions

Abstract

Wheat is one of the most important crop among the prime cereals at the global level. In the present investigation, twenty-four bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes were evaluated to estimate the extent of genetic diversity. Analysis of variance revealed that genotypes possess significant genetic variability among all traits at p < 00.1. It was also observed that HPW 447 had recorded the highest value of 35.16 (q/ha) whereas, HPW446 exhibited the lowest value (23.78 q/ha) for the yield. A significant positive correlation was observed among yield and biological yield traits. On contrary, yield and days to maturity revealed a negative correlation. Days to heading revealed a significant positive correlation with plant height (0.40) and a negative correlation with biological yield (-0.45), respectively. Diversity analysis classified the evaluated wheat genotypes into four (4) distinct groups based on an index of similarity and dissimilarity of attributing traits. Group I and II have one genotype each viz., HS637 and HPW447, respectively whereas in third group 6 genotypes including HPW441, HPW444, HPW446, VL2030, HS634, and VL2025 are clustered together. The fourth group had two sub-groups. The first sub-group had five (5) genotypes and the second sub-group had eight (8) genotypes. The first three principal components based on the Euclidean similarity matrix explained 45.13, 17.85 and 14.71 percent of the total variation, respectively. It is concluded that these wheat genotypes (HS631, HPW 442, HPW 447, VL 2027 and VL2028) possess significant genetic variability and requisite potential for use in breeding as candidate wheat genotypes under temperate conditions. It is further suggested that by multivariate methods diverse parents can be identified with a scope in generating transgressive segregants for prospective breeding strategies in the improvement of the wheat crop.