Assessment of Genetic Variability for Morpho-physiological and Yield Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

In order to estimate genetic variability parameters for seventeen traits of wheat, 28 F1s were obtained by crossing 8 parents in 8×8 diallel fashion, excluding reciprocals and evaluation trial was laid down in randomised complete block design at Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. Analysis of variance revealed that highly significant differences between genotypes exist for all seventeen characters. Eleven out of seventeen characters were observed to exhibit elevated values for both the PCV and GCV. The observed phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values was determined to be greater than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) values, indicating that the expression of traits is comparatively less influenced by environmental factors. A significant degree of heritability, along with a notable genetic advance, was observed for various traits, including flag leaf area, followed by grain yield, biological yield, canopy temperature depression (CTD), harvest index, tillers per plant, peduncle length, grains per spike, awn length, plant height, grain filling duration, spikelet per spike, spike length, and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) content. This study has thus identified significant genetic variability in wheat traits, highlighted traits with high heritability and genetic advance, and suggested that these traits could be targeted for improvement in wheat breeding programs.