Studies on Genetic variability and Character Association for Yield and its component Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Author: J. Sreekanth, Ashutosh Kumar, Bal Krishna and Nilesh Talekar

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Abstract

Wheat is one of the most important staple crops worldwide, providing a significant portion of the global food supply. Understanding and managing wheat variability is crucial for improving varieties and promoting sustainable agriculture, ensuring a stable global food supply. To access variability and understand character association, the present experiment was conducted during the Rabi season 2022 at the research farm of Department of Genetics and Plant breeding, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab. The study involved 90 wheat cultivars and 4 standard checks evaluated using Augmented design. Observations were recorded for ten yield and yield attributing traits. The analysis of variance revealed presence of sufficient genetic variability for most of the traits studied. Traits such as spike length, seeds per spike, and no of productive tillers per plant high heritability coupled with high genetic advance. Therefore, these traits can pe given priority in future wheat crop improvement programme. The phenotypic correlation analysis revealed that traits such as number of productive tillers per plant (0.6447**), spike length (0.2802**), and seeds per spike (0.4492**) exhibited highly significant positive correlations with grain yield per plant. Traits such as days to maturity, number of productive tillers per plant, spike length, seeds per spike, SPAD and harvest index showed positive and direct effect with grain yield per plant. Traits that exhibit a strong positive correlation and have a high positive direct effect can serve as effective selection criteria for the improvement of future wheat crops.

Keywords

Wheat, Correlation, Path-coefficient, Heritability, Genetic advance

Conclusion

Therefore, based on the present findings, it can be concluded that genotypes utilized in this study exhibits substantial variability for a majority of the traits. Consequently, it is crucial to consider these traits during the selection process to identify superior individuals. These traits should be prioritized in the selection of plants for further improvement of yield and yield-related traits in bread wheat. Traits such as productive tillers per plant, spike length and seeds per spike and SPAD value showing significant and positive correlation with grain yield per plant. So, these traits can be used for effective selection in future crop improvement programme.

References

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How to cite this article

J. Sreekanth, Ashutosh Kumar, Bal Krishna and Nilesh Talekar (2023). Studies on Genetic variability and Character Association for Yield and its component Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(6): 679-684.