Climate change is expected to intensify drought stress, leading to yield instability and threatening wheat production, which poses serious risks to global food security. Thus, developing drought-tolerant cultivars is the most economical and sustainable approach to attain the required wheat production. In the current study, a total of 42 diverse hexaploid wheat lines were evaluated for drought tolerance using phenotypic and SSR marker data. Twelve traits including phenological, grain yield components and physiological were analysed. For most of the variables, analysis of variance showed substantial differences between genotypes, conditions, and genotype × condition. Strong genetic control is indicated by high heritability and genetic variability of yield, phenological, and yield-contributing traits. Based on the drought susceptibility index (DSI) for grain yield (GY), 25 genotypes were identified as drought-tolerant and 17 as susceptible. The genotypes, SPH66, SPH91, SYN42, SYN9, MACS6222, and DBW327 were identified as highly tolerant. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.28 (Xcfd43) to 0.70 (Xgwm111), and allelic richness was observed with 2 to 5 alleles per locus. Tolerant genotypes such as SPH 37, SPH 38, SPH 44, SPH 48, SYN42, SYN56, and SYN87 were consistently grouped together in both clusters based on phenotypic and molecular data and may serve as donors in future breeding programs. Further, the detection of five significant allelic associations for markers Xgwm484, Xwmc517, Xwmc702, and Xgwm108 suggests that these alleles may serve as functional indicators of drought tolerance and can be targeted for marker-assisted selection for the development of drought-resilient wheat varieties.
Hordeum vulgare L. is a self-pollinating cereal crop cultivated widely with a diploid genome consisting of seven chromosome pairs. The primary industrial use of barley is for malting, which is further used by the brewing, distillation, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Barley is unique among other cereal crops due to the relatively higher concentration of β-glucan, a non-cellulosic polysaccharide that is inversely correlated with its malting quality. The selection of a barley cultivar for specific end-use applications is determined by the concentration of β-glucan, with cultivars possessing a high β-glucan concentration being preferred for food-related purposes. In addition to various other factors pertaining to grain and malt quality, the malting industry prefers low levels of grain β-glucan. Several advancements in molecular and biochemical pathways associated with barley can potentially be studied with its whole genome sequence availability. This review examines the morphological characteristics of barley, the regulatory parameters of malt quality, and their associated QTLs. Furthermore, recent advancements in biotechnology and breeding techniques are explored, with the aim of developing improved indigenous barley malt genotypes, which uplift the export of quality malt and strengthen the nation’s economy. This review comprehensively analyzes both classical and advanced molecular approaches, such as traditional breeding, doubled haploid, marker-assisted selection, TILLING, and CRISPR/Cas9 technology, to improve barley malt germplasm.
Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, poses a major threat to global wheat production, adversely impacting grain yield, quality, and nutritional value. Identifying quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with resistance is essential for wheat breeders aiming to develop rust-resistant varieties through molecular breeding strategies. To unravel the genetic basis of resistance, a mapping population of 212 recombinant inbred lines (F8), derived from a cross between resistant parent (W8627) and the susceptible parent (PBW343), was evaluated against the most prevalent and virulent pathotypes at both the seedling and adult plant stages over two consecutive years (2021–22 and 2022–23). The area under the disease progression curve (AUDPC) and analysis of variance revealed high variability among the RILs across both years. For QTL mapping, genotyping was conducted using a comprehensive approach that combined a 3.9 K Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) array with SSR markers. This effort resulted in the identification of 602 DArT markers and 23 SSR markers, which were used to construct a robust integrated linkage map comprising 21 linkage groups which led to the identification of two seedling resistance QTLs, QYr.iiwbr.3BS.1 (3B) and QYr.iiwbr.6DS.1 (6D), as well as two consistent QTLs; QYr.iiwbr.2BL.1 (2B) showing the phenotypic variance of 9.67
The present study was conducted during the cropping season from November, 2023 to April, 2024 at eight major locations of the country to study the specific and general adaptation of feed barley genotypes by recent AMMI analysis based measures. AMMI analysis had observed highly significant variations due to environments, GxE interactions, and genotypes about 76.7% of the total sum square of variation for yield was due to environments, followed by 13.2% of G×E interactions, whereas genotypes accounted for marginal share of 7.5%. Explained variation of G×E interaction accounted by each of IPCA exploited by defined measures, as type-1 measures benefited 39.9%, type-2 measures utilized 59.8%, type 3 measures used up to 76.2%, type 5 measures benefited up to 90.6%, as observed from table. This justified the use of AMMI derived measures based on the larger numbers of IPCAs resulting in the most usage of G×E interaction variations. Biplot analysis of the measures of adaptability had observed that the first two significant principal components had accounted for 63.3% of the variation among the evaluated genotypes and studied measures for the current study with 33.4% and 29.9% respective share. Measures ASTAB3, SIPC3, SIPC2, ASTAB5 along with G20, G16, G21 genotypes, had contributed more in the first principal component whereas D5, D3, D2, ASV were of major share in second component. In terms of the evaluated genotypes share of G08, G7, G14 was significant.
Under changing climate scenario, terminal heat stress imposes a considerable risk to wheat productivity and among the most effective strategies to mitigate this stress is adjusting the sowing time. In this perspective, this study was conducted with an aim of enhancing the wheat productivity by combination of optimized sowing dates, nutrient-rich condition and growth regulators application. The field experimentation was done in split-plot design with four sowing dates (October 25, November 05, November 15, and November 25) in main-plots and three nutrient management strategies NM1 – recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) comprising 150 kg N, 60 kg P2O5 and 40 kg K2O ha-1; NM2 – 150
