Investigations on Genetic Variability and Character Association in Triticum dicoccum under Salinity Stress

Abstract

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses affecting crop yield and quality. Wheat is regarded as a moderately salt tolerant crop; wheat species exhibit high variability that can be conveniently explored to improve wheat species for salt tolerance. Hence, the magnitude of variability for salt tolerance was studied in dicoccum wheat germplasm accessions. High phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variance were observed for grain yield and yield attributes like tillers per meter, biomass, spikelets per spike and harvest index. The heritability and genetic advance over mean were moderate to high for grain yield, thousand grain weight, tillers per meter, biomass, spikelets per spike, harvest index, plant height, days to 50 per cent flowering and days to maturity. Character association studies revealed that harvest index and SPAD at anthesis stage exhibited a positive significant correlation under both saline and control condition. Path coefficient analysis revealed that traits like harvest index, biomass, tillers per meter and days to 50 per cent flowering were showing a high direct effect on grain yield under both saline and control condition. Thus, the present study provides valuable genetic resources for grain yield and yield parameters improvement which are associated with the salt tolerance in wheat species.