Genetic Variability and Association of Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes in Gechi District, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Bread wheat is the world’s leading cereal grain, and more than one-third of the world’s population uses it as a staple food. The bread wheat production in Ethiopia is low compsssared to the national average yield, mainly due to the lack of high-yielding genotypes. This study was conducted during the 2019-2020 growing season to assess genetic variability and estimate the association of traits among bread wheat genotypes. The experiment consists of 49 bread wheat genotypes and is laid out in 7 × 7 simple lattice designs. The results showed significant differences ( p < 0.01) among genotypes for most of the studied traits. Moderate genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values were estimated for yield plant −1, thousand seed weight, and biomass yield. High heritability coupled with a high GAM was observed for thousand seed weight and yield plant –1. The grain yield showed a highly significant ( p < 0.01) correlation with many yield-related traits at the phenotypic and genotypic levels. The biomass yield and the harvest index exerted the highest positive direct effect on grain yield at the genotypic level. The highest intercluster distance was observed between clusters I and IV (D2 = 31.86 ∗ ∗ ), followed by clusters II and IV (D2 = 29.21 ∗ ), and clusters II and III (D2 = 28.24 ∗ ), which indicated the chance of selecting a member of these clusters for hybridization. This experiment’s result indicates sufficient genetic variability among the tested genotypes, which provides ample scope for selecting superior and desired genotypes. Best-performed genotypes should be included in the future breeding program for further yield improvement. In conclusion, attention should be given to traits with moderate to high heritability and GAM, exerting a positive direct effect on the grain yield. However, the experiment should be repeated over locations and seasons to draw a definite conclusion.

Genotype-by-environment interaction and stability analysis of grain yield of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes using AMMI and GGE biplot analyses

“…Similarly, previous studies showed differences among genotypes in terms of the number of days to maturity, number of days to heading, plant height, spike length, number of seeds per spike, thousand seed weight, and grain yield per plots [ 22 , 23 ]. Other studies on bread wheat [ 14 , 83 ] also showed highly significant differences among genotypes, which aligns with the findings of our study.…”

“…Majority of sub-Sahara Africa's wheat production comes from Ethiopia [ 12 , 13 ]. Bread wheat is a staple food in Ethiopia, and it is mainly used for making bread, porridge (Genfo), local beer (Tella), roasted grain (Kolo), boiled grain (Nifro), and injera [ 14 ]. Wheat straw is frequently utilized as roofing material and as feed for animals [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Morphological Characterization and Assessment of Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…Thirteen traits including days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, productive tiller per plant, spike length, number grains per spike, biological yield per plant, harvest index (%), 1000 seed weight (g), Ash content (%) and Grain yield per plant., exhibited highly significant variation (≤0.05) among all the genotypes under this study (Table 1). The similar findings were also reported by earlier workers viz., Bhushan et al [17] and Geneti [18].…”