Influence of Genotype and Environment On Quality Characteristics of Wheat Lines Derived From Winter Wheat X Spring Wheat Crosses

A set of lines developed by crossing the high yielding Indian wheat lines with winter wheat lines of US origin besides lines selected from mainstream breeding programme on the basis of prior performances alongwith two checks PBW 343 and PBW 550 grown during 2007–08 and 2008–09 and analyzed for grain appearance score, test weight, thousand kernel weight, kernel hardness, protein content, sedimentation value, dry gluten content, wet gluten content and gluten index to identify better and stable and superior wheat lines and higher scores were obtained for all quality traits in 2008–09. Impact of both genotype and environment was found to be significant for grain appearance score, test weight, thousand kernel weight and kernel hardness. Protein content and its functional quality in terms of SDS-sedimentation values were also affected significantly by the genetic factors but the environmental impact was found to be significant only for the SDS-sedimentation value. The entries BW 5503, BW 5538, BW 9134, BW 9135, BW 9146, BW 9147, BW 9157 and BW 9159 were possessing a protein content of more than 12 percent, shown by the better check variety during 2008–09. All those entries were also showing a good SDS-sedimentation value. On the whole the entries were categorized under medium and high gluten classes during both the years of study but the dry gluten content was not affected either by the genotype or the environment. The gluten index measuring its functional quality was affected significantly by both the factors. The entries BW 9146, BW 9147, BW 9157, BW 9160 and PBW 550 were showing stable gluten index values over the two years, indicating their tolerance to changing environment with respect to functional quality.