Pooling together spot blotch resistance, high yield with earliness in wheat for eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia

This study was done with an objective to attempt to pool together in wheat, the three most important traits (spot blotch resistance, high yield and earliness) for warm humid Eastern Gangetic plains (EGP) of South Asia. A Recombinant Inbred Line (RIL) population, developed from two contrasting parents (YS#58 × YS#24) for spot blotch resistance, was tested in seven environments falling under three locations of EGP. Most of the components of variation for three traits were highly significant for each environment as well as in pooled analysis. In general, phenotypic correlation for Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) among centers was high and positive. Out of 214 genotypes (211 RILs along with their parents YS#24, YS#58 and Sonalika, check for spot blotch susceptibility and earliness) tested, 15 RILs showed better resistance than the resistant parent. Measured over seven environments, six lines were significantly superior to best check for spot blotch resistance while two for grain yield, four for earliness and two for 1000-grain weight. However, only one line (#94) was found significantly superior for all four traits compared to the best check. Genotype × Environment (G × E) interaction was significant but Genotype × Year (G × Y) was non-significant which indicated the importance of locations for spot blotch. To support this fact, lines superior in one location did not perform well in the other. For resistance, line #174 performed most consistently over 7 environments. Although there was negative correlation between AUDPC and days to heading, low AUDPC was observed in two early maturing RILs (#94 and #1). The study demonstrated that through appropriate crossing and evaluation, it is possible to pool together spot blotch resistance in to high yield back ground of wheat with early maturity.