PJB-2019-555
SCREENING FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE IN WHEAT GENOTYPES BY MORPHOLOGICAL AND SSR MARKERS
Nihar Ranjan Saha
Abstract
Drought stress has become a significant abiotic stress for wheat in Bangladesh. Therefore, it has been a priority to find drought tolerant wheat variety. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate locally cultivated wheat genotypes for drought tolerance based on morpho-physiological and molecular traits. Ten locally cultivated wheat genotypes were selected on the basis of our previous research and grown in pots under control (100% field capacity) and drought stress (30% field capacity), applied when third leaf was fully expanded and continued till maturity. The result revealed that drought stress affected the yield contributing characters and led to a significant reduction in grain yield. Significant variations were observed for all morphological and physiological traits among the genotypes. Drought susceptibility index and drought tolerance efficiency were used as criteria for selection of drought tolerance. Sonalika, Sourav and BARI gom-28 were least affected and found to be drought tolerant. Durum, Pavon-76, BARI gom-25 and BARI gom-33 were moderately tolerant while BARI gom-24, BINA gom-1 and BARI gom-20 were severely affected and found to be susceptible. Twenty six wheat genotypes were characterized by thirteen SSR markers linked to drought tolerance. A total of 73 alleles were detected among the 26 wheat genotypes with an average of 5.62 alleles per locus. Polymorphism information content (PIC) and Nei’s (1973) gene diversity were 0.69 and 0.73, respectively. Similarity indices based cluster analysis separated 26 genotypes into different groups. Two tolerant genotypes; Sourav and Sonalika and two moderately tolerant genotypes; Durum and Pavon-76 as identified by morphological study were grouped in cluster 1 by the linked SSR markers. These four genotypes, therefore, passed the screening for drought tolerance both in molecular studies by drought linked markers and morphological studies and can suggested for cultivation in the drought prone areas of Bangladesh.
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