Trait phenotyping and Inheritance of leaf blight resistance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under temperate conditions of Kashmir valley

Trait phenotyping and Inheritance of leaf blight resistance in wheat

Abstract

A set of twenty-two advanced breeding lines of bread wheat were studied in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four (4) replications at the experimental fields of Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Wadura during Rabi 2019-20. For each line the observations were recorded for eight (08) important agro-morphological, yield and yield related traits viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of tillers plant^-1, spike length (cm), number of spikelets spike^-1, 1000 grain weight (g) and grain yield (kg/ha). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) depicted that the genotypes significant variability for traits under study. The genotypes HS675, HPW472 and VL2042 possessed better agronomic performance for yield attributing traits and were identified as high yielding wheat genotypes that could be recommended for cultivation under temperate conditions of Kashmir valley. The correlation co-efficient matrix for the traits under study revealed only 12 positive and 8 negative significant correlations out of the total 28 paired combinations of all the traits. A segregating F₂ population and F₂ derived F₃ families were developed from the cross between resistant (CIMMYT-10009) and susceptible (CIMMYT-5024) parents and subsequently evaluated for studying inheritance pattern for leaf blight resistance. The field data of F₂ generation and F₂ derived F₃ families segregated for resistance and fitted to two dominant gene ratio (9:7) using chi-square test. The study reports that wheat breeding line CIMMYT-10009 contains two dominant leaf blight resistance genes have complimentary effect on one another. The genes so identified are effective under temperate conditions of Kashmir valley and as such could efficiently be used in breeding programmes, for deployment of such genes over space and time and for development of gene pyramids for leaf blight resistance in wheat.