SKUAST Journal of Research

DUS characterization in wheat is crucial to preserve the loss of trait variability, to offer breeders and farmers rights, and to deliver high-quality seeds. In the present study, 296 wheat genotypes were characterized during Rabi seasons of years 2022 and 2023 for seventeen (17) visually assessed DUS parameters following wheat descriptor prescribed by PPV& FR Act, 2001. Out of seventeen (17) visually assessed characteristics, 2 characters (presence of awns; grain texture) were dimorphic and rest 15 characters were found to be polymorphic, indicating their potential for genotype characterization. All the genotypes showed similar expression over the years for each visual character depicting the stability of the genotypes. None of the attribute showed intra-line variation among the genotypes. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for all the quantitative traits viz., plant height, spike length, number of spikelets per spike and number of grains per spike for two years, thereby clearly indicating the existence of high genetic variability among genotypes. The coefficient of variation for quantitative characters viz., plant height (10.87), spike length (7.16), number of spikelets per spike (5.98) indicates high magnitude of genetic variation and their scope for utilization in genotype characterization and improvement. Thus, the 17 morphological DUS descriptors used in the present study were reliable and reproducible for establishing the distinctiveness in this set of wheat genotypes. The genotypes satisfying the DUS criteria in the set of genotypes can be registered with PPV & FR authority for registration and for obtaining breeders and farmer’s rights.