Selection Criteria for Drought-Tolerant Bread Wheat Genotypes at Seedling Stage

Hafiz Ghulam Muhu-Din Ahmed, Muhammad Sajjad, Mingju Li, Muhammad Abubakkar Azmat, Muhammad Rizwan, Rana Haroon Maqsood and Sultan Habibullah Khan
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Hafiz Ghulam Muhu-Din Ahmed: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sub Campus Burewala-Vehari, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
Muhammad Sajjad: Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Park Road, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
Mingju Li: Institute of Agricultural Environment and Resources, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming 650205, China
Muhammad Abubakkar Azmat: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sub Campus Burewala-Vehari, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
Muhammad Rizwan: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sub Campus Burewala-Vehari, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
Rana Haroon Maqsood: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sub Campus Burewala-Vehari, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
Sultan Habibullah Khan: Center of agricultural biotechnology and biochemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Diminishing water resources as a result of excessive use of water for irrigation and climate change posture a severe global threat to food security. Herein, an experiment was conducted to determine the selection criteria for drought-tolerant bread wheat genotypes at the seedling stage using morphological and photosynthetic pigmentation-related traits. A panel of 105 wheat landraces, historical Pakistani varieties, and advance breeding lines were evaluated under normal and drought stress using factorial completely randomized design. The root length, fresh weight, dry weight, cell membrane thermo-stability, and chlorophyll b were positively correlated among themselves under both normal and stress conditions. Hence, selection of any one of these traits enhances the performance of other traits. The shoot length was non-significant and negatively associated with all other studied characters except relative water content. The results suggested that selection for shoot length could not improve genetic gain for drought tolerance. Out of 10 principal components (PCs), the first three PCs were showed significant genetic variation under both conditions. The first three PCs showed 74.6% and 76% cumulative genetic variation under normal and drought conditions, respectively. Based on PCA, 10 drought-tolerant and five drought-susceptible genotypes were identified. Overall results suggested that selection for root length, fresh weight, dry weight, cell membrane thermo-stability, and chlorophyll b at the seedling stage would improve genetic gain for drought tolerance. The outperforming genotypes under drought stress conditions can be useful in future wheat breeding programs, and early selection for the traits recommended in this study will be effective for developing high-yielding and drought-tolerant wheat varieties.

Keywords: photosynthetic; chlorophyll; drought; wheat; yield; seedling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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