Morpho-Physiological Attributes of Cultivated Wheat Germplasm for high yield potential under Rain fed condition

Wheat is the most important cereal crop and staple diet for more than one third of the world population and contributes more calories and protein to the world diet than any other cereal crop. In view of global climate change drought stress is becoming major constraints for the productivity of wheat and hence the breeding for drought tolerance is gaining more importance. More accurate and precise phenotyping of genetic resources is the demand of the new generation quantitative geneticists and plant breeders as this is the most critical research area which will lead to identification of trait specific donor germplasm. In the present study, Wheat germplasm accessions (1483 acc.) were evaluated at Issapur farm in Augmented Block Design with four checks based on morpho-physiological parameters. Irrigation was provided at Crown root initiation stage (CRI) and afterwards moisture deficit was maintained throughout the crop duration. There was wide variability in wheat germplasm for the phonological, agronomical and physiological traits. This experiment identified correlated traits responsible for high grain yield under rainfed conditionsuch as biological yield, harvest index, days to maturity, spike length, spikelets per spike, grains per spike, cholorophyll content, grain weight and 1000 grain weight. Based on stepwise multiple regression analysis, major role of prediction on yield was found through biological yield, including harvest index, grain weight spikelets per spike and chlorophyll content. Based on predictor variables, accessions were selected and will be further validated under controlled condition and will be used for introgression purpose in the background of elite varieties to enhance yield and its stability under moisture stress environments.