Characterization of Nepalese Bread Wheat Landraces Based on Morpho-Phenological and Agronomic Traits

Abstract

Due to the presence of valuable genes that contribute to a variety of functional traits, landraces kept in Genebank can be extremely important in wheat breeding. A study was conducted based on agro-morphological traits of Nepalese bread wheat landraces to explore genetic diversity among them. Using a replicated rod row design, 200 landraces were evaluated during the winter season of 2018 and 2019 at Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. The degree of variations among landraces was determined using univariate and multivariate statistical tools. The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H’) showed a wide range of variations among the studied landraces, ranging from 0.55 to 0.91 in quantitative traits and 0.63 to 0.85 in qualitative traits.Principal component (PC) analysis with an eigenvalue greater than 1 reveals that 68% of the variability for quantitative traits is contributed by the first five principal components whereas 67% of the variability of qualitative traits is governed by the first four principal components. UPGMA (Unweighted pair-groups methods through arithmetic average) clustered 202 landraces into five groups according to quantitative charterers.Identified advantageous adaptive traits through the analysis of variability within the accessions, will be used by breeders for crosses in the breeding or used directly by farmers.