Biochemical and phenological characterization of diverse wheats and their association with drought tolerance genes

Abstract

Drought is one of the most important wheat production limiting factor, and can lead to severe yield losses. This study was designed to examine the effect of drought stress on wheat physiology and morphology under three different field capacities (FC) viz. 80% (control), 50% (moderate) and 30% (severe drought stress) in a diverse collection of wheat germplasm including cultivars, landraces, synthetic hexaploid and their derivatives. Traits like grain weight, thousand grain weight and biomass were reduced by 38.23%, 18.91% and 26.47% respectively at 30% FC, whereas the reduction rate for these traits at 50% FC were 19.57%, 8.88% and 18.68%. In principal component analysis (PCA), the first two components PC1 and PC2 accounted for 58.63% of the total variation and separated the cultivars and landraces from synthetic-based germplasm. Landraces showed wide range of phenotypic variations at 30% FC compared to synthetic-based germplasm and improved cultivars. However, least reduction in grain weight was observed in improved cultivars which indicated the progress in developing drought resilient cultivars. Allelic variations of the drought-related genes including TaSnRK2.9-5A, TaLTPs-11, TaLTPs-12, TaSAP-7B-, TaPPH-13, Dreb-B1 and 1fehw3 were significantly associated with the phenological traits under drought stress in all 91 wheats including 40 landraces, 9 varieties, 34 synthetic hexaploids and 8 synthetic derivatives. The favorable haplotypes of 1fehw3, Dreb-B1, TaLTPs-11 and TaLTPs-12 increased grain weight, and biomass. Our results iterated the fact that landraces could be promising source to deploy drought adaptability in wheat breeding. The study further identified drought tolerant wheat genetic resources across various backgrounds and identified favourable haplotypes of water-saving genes which should be considered to develop drought tolerant varieties.

Allelic variation and effects of earliness <i> per se (Eps) </i> genes in wheat cultivars of Pakistan

“…For these cultivars, the GY had highest values ranging from 1.87 to 3.22 t/ha and the TGW had high values with a range of 28.9-39.6 g. The high-throughput KASP assay made it possible to genotype a large population with accuracy within a short period in comparison to the traditional genetic methods (Rasheed et al, 2016). Previously, allelic variation for flowering time and drought tolerance genes has been observed in a diversity panel of synthetic-derived wheats (Afzal et al, 2017;Ali et al, 2023). The study revealed the higher frequency of alleles deletion in TaEfl-D1 was least frequent (46.15%) than that in Wild-type (78.85%).…”

Morphological and Molecular Characterizations of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Influence on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Plant Nutrition

“…The significant role of AMF in plant growth is translocating important immovable nutrients such as Cu, Zn, and P and reducing metal toxicity in the host plant. 10,11 The number of AMF described by morphological description reached 244 in 2013. 12 Numerous AMF taxa show similar morphology during some phases of their growth, which is why both morphological and molecular traits are used in existing cataloging systems of AMF.…”

“…This is how AMF play a vital role in developing farming practices toward sustainable agriculture. The significant role of AMF in plant growth is translocating important immovable nutrients such as Cu, Zn, and P and reducing metal toxicity in the host plant. , …”

“…The significant role of AMF in plant growth is translocating important immovable nutrients such as Cu, Zn, and P and reducing metal toxicity in the host plant. 10 , 11 …”