Genetic stability analysis of bread wheat hybrids and parents under semi-arid eastern plains of Rajasthan

Abstract

Aim: The study aimed to evaluate ten wheat cultivars along with 45 F1 under different environments to identify best suited environment for potential expression of grain yield and related traits under terminal heat stress. Methodology: Ten wheat cultivars and 45 F1 were evaluated under three different environments at Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute, Durgapura, Jaipur (SKNAU, Jobner). The experiment was carried out in randomized block design with 3 replications and each plot had 2 rows for F1 and 4 rows for parents with 30×10 cm spacing. The parents of the crosses were selected on basis of their superiority in performance across diverse ecologies. Results: The results of present investigation revealed that first two principal components contributed to nearly 63 % of total variance that is grouped in two clusters. Genotype plus genotype by environment interaction view revealed top cultivars and hybrids under terminal heat stress conditions. AMMI biplot analysis indicated environment 1 and environment 2 as the best suited environments for potential expression of grain yield and related traits. The study identified potential donors, cultivars C306, Raj4079, Raj1482 and PBW396 for earliness and cultivarsCR43, CR20 and PBW590 for grain yield and related traits under terminal heat stress conditions. Interpretation: The grain yield can be improved by selecting for higher grain number, biomass and harvest index as revealed from their positive correlations. The presence of G×E interaction provides the opportunity to select for the stable genotypes for diverse ecologies. On other hand, environment specific genotypes can be targeted in befitting ecologies. AMMI and GGE biplot based stability analysis prove to be an efficient approach in testing the genotypes performance in multi-environment trials for selection of stable heat resilient cultivars. Key words: Genetic stability, Hybrids, Terminal heat stress, Wheat