Differential analysis of vegetative growth characters for developing stay green wheat

Today, the ecological cycle is changing day by day due to some environmental changes, therfore, efficient efforts should be made to develop improved crops which can give better yield with good quality. Stay green trait is one of the major characters of the crop to sustain under abiotic stresses. The stay green trait directly maintain the longer photosynthetic period and chlorophyll content by delaying leaf senescence. In the present study, ten wheat varieties viz. HUW 510, C 306, Sonalika, HD 2135, HD 2177, VL 401, K 9162, RAJ 3765, K 68, K 7410 were collected to develop the stay green genotype. The seeds of these ten wheat varieties were treated with 1.25% EMS for 60 minutes. After EMS treatment, the two wheat varieties K 7410 and RAJ 3765, performed better in terms of yield components like seeds per spike, 1000 grain weight. The photosynthesis rate was found to be maintained or somewhat increased in K 7410 and RAJ 3765 from 24.43 to 26.00μmol/m2sec and from 22.57 to 24.57μmol/m2sec respectively after the treatment. So, the EMS treatment is found to be significant for developing stay green genotypes which may be resistant to abiotic stress like drought, high temperature etc.