EVALUATION OF WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) GERMPLASM USING TOLERANCE INDICES AND SSR MARKERS GROWN UNDER DROUGHT STRESS CONDITIONS

Drought stress impedes wheat production worldwide. For this, an investigation was carried out with 30 wheat genotypes to identify drought tolerant genotypes at seedling and grain filling stages using tolerance indices and SSR genotyping. These experiments were arranged in Split plot design and RCBD Design with three replications, respectively. From the analysis of variance of two factor experiments, highly significant variations were exhibited among the genotypes for traits shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, and grain yield per plant. The high heritability was recorded for shoot fresh weight (63.83%), root fresh weight (63.94%) and grain yield per plant (63.26%). To reveal drought tolerance amongst the 30 genotypes, drought tolerance indices viz. Stress tolerance index, Stress susceptibility index, Tolerance index, Yield stability index, Mean productivity and Geometric mean productivity were computed. The genotype BARI Gom 30, BARI Gom 22, BARI Gom 32, BARI Gom 27, BARI Gom 26, BWMRI-1 showed drought tolerance because superior rank (<200) recorded for these genotypes. 11 Simple sequence repeat markers were evaluated in 30 wheat varieties for molecular characterization. A total of 54 alleles were detected and the number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 9 with an average of 5.4 alleles per locus. Finally, considering the morphophysiological and molecular study, the genotypes BARI Gom 30, BARI Gom 32, BARI Gom 26 and BARI Gom 22 are identified as drought tolerant genotype and could be utilized in drought tolerant breeding program.