Abstract
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important cereal crop globally as well as in India and yield improvement programs encounter a strong impediment from ever-evolving rust pathogens. Hence, durable rust resistance is always a priority trait for wheat breeders globally. Grain weight, represented as thousand grain weight (TGW), is the most important yield-contributing trait in wheat. In the present study high TGW has been transferred into two elite Indian wheat cultivars PBW343 and PBW550 from a high TGW genotype, Rye selection 111, selected from local germplasm. In the background of PBW343 and PBW550, an increase in TGW upto 27.34 and 18% was observed, respectively (with respect to recipient parents), through conventional backcross breeding with phenotypic selections in 3 years replicated RBD trials. Resistance to leaf rust and stripe rust has been incorporated in the high TGW version of PBW550 through marker assisted pyramiding of stripe rust resistance gene Yr15 using marker Xuhw302, and a pair of linked leaf rust and stripe rust resistance genes Lr57-Yr40 using marker Ta5DS-2754099_kasp23. Improved versions of PBW550 with increased TGW ranging from 45.0 to 46.2 g (up to a 9% increase) and stacked genes for stripe and leaf rust resistance have been developed. This study serves as proof of utilizing conventional breeding and phenotypic selection combined with modern marker assisted selection in improvement of important wheat cultivars as a symbiont of conventional and moderan techniques.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important cereal crop in India, ranking second after rice for the area (29.31 million hectares) and production (103.6 million metrics) with the state of Punjab sharing 18% of production
The present study reports the introgression of high thousand grain weight (TGW) to wheat varieties PBW343 and PBW550 from a local selection named “Rye Selection 111.”
Yield is a trait of foremost priority for the commercial success of a variety, but combining improved grain yield with disease resistance, and high grain quality is a need of the changing time and environment
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important cereal crop in India, ranking second after rice for the area (29.31 million hectares) and production (103.6 million metrics) with the state of Punjab sharing 18% of production. With global per capita consumption of 67.4 kg/year, wheat is the most widely consumed food grain (Djanaguiraman et al, 2019). In India only, the population is Pyramiding GW and Rust Resistance projected to cross the 1.70 billion mark by 2050 with a domestic demand of wheat exceeding 140 million tons (Nagarajan, 2005). A consistent increase in the wheat yields is a primary goal for food security of the growing population (Singh et al, 2007; Ye and Smith, 2008). Uniform and larger sized grains are visually appealing and fetch higher market prices
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