High yielding durum wheat variety HI 8759 Pusa Tejas — a new rust and karnal bunt resistant

Abstract

A new durum wheat variety HI 8759 has been recommended for commercial cultivation under high fertility irrigated timely sown conditions of Central zone of India. HI 8759 has yield potential of >75.5 q/ha with an average yield of 56.9 q/ha; and shows superiority over checks by giving 3.8 % to 12.0 % higher yield over durum wheat checks HI 8498, MPO 1215, HI 8737 and HD 4728. It showed good levels of field resistance to stem and leaf rusts, the maximum ACI values remaining 6.0 for stem rust and 4.1 for leaf rust. It showed high levels of adult plant resistance to prevalent and virulent pathotypes viz., 40A and 117-6 of stem rust; and 77-5 and 104-2 of leaf rust. It exhibited resistance to virulent pathotypes viz., 40A, 40-3, 117-1, 117-3, 117-4, 117-5 of stem rust indicating the presence of unique stem rust resistance gene/s, and its resistance spectrum is different from currently popular durum cultivars HI 8498 and MPO 1215. It showed better resistance to loose smut and foot rot than all the checks, and comparable resistance to flag smut and Karnal bunt (8.1%). It can serve as a “dual purpose†variety suitable both for making chapati and for pasta preparations due to its moderate SDS-sedimentation value (~ 35 ml). It can contribute to “nutritional security†in central India, because of its high protein content (~12.0 %), good levels of yellow pigment (~5.7 ppm), and essential micronutrients like iron (42.1 ppm) and zinc (42.8 ppm); with very high overall acceptability (7.5).