Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS THROUGH ROOT COMPONENTS FOR DROUGHT ADAPTATION IN WHEAT

Sunil Kumar Jatav, V. S. Kandalkar and M. Kushawah

Abstract

The wheat 60 genotypes for drought tolerant mechanism through various root characteristics under temporary rainout structure. Genetic improvement in yield under stress environments has been recognized to be difficult due to low heritability of test weight under stress environments, thus root characters may help as selection criteria to improve in genetic gain in test weight. WH-1061 showed significantly higher value for grain yield stress (GYS), test weight (TW), primary fresh root weight (PFRW), primary dry root weight (PDRW), secondary dry roots weight (SDRW), total fresh root weight (TFRW), total dry root weight (TDRW), root volume (RV), fresh root density index (FRDI) and root mass index (RMI). Secondary dry root weight (SDRW) exhibited high heritability value of 78.88% followed by fresh root density index (FRDI), root length (RL) and root mass index (RMI). Correlation coefficients revealed that grain yield (GYS) showed positive significant association with test weight (TW), secondary fresh root weight (SFRW) and secondary dry root weight (SDRW) under water stress condition. Principal component analysis revealed five principal components were significant exhibiting more than one eigen-value and showed 84.16% variation. PC analysis revealed that promising genotypes WH1061 and HPW 309 led as tolerant genotypes and could be used in future breeding for stress tolerance with high yield potential.