Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Spring wheat, also known as bread wheat, is greatly affected by drought, which is one of the most significant abiotic variables, and the lack of useful selection criteria restricts the breeding of resistant genotypes. This investigation aimed to evaluate 8 lines and 3 testers, along with their 24 hybrid crosses, for yield-related indices. The combining ability and gene action were also estimated using line tester analysis. Significant differences were found in the line × tester analysis, demonstrating the highly significant variations of studied attributes among lines (L), testers (T), L × T, and parents (P) vs. crosses (C) under both stressed and non-stressed conditions, except the tester revealed a non-significant difference for only plant height in the non-stressed condition. Out of 8 lines and 3 testers, L3 (Pasban-90) and T2 (Lasani-2008) proved to be good general combiners in non-stressed conditions, while in stressed water deficit conditions, L1 (Aas-11), L3 (Pasban-90), L4 (Chakwal-97), L6 (FSD-08), T2 (Lasani-2008), and T3 (Gomal-2008) exhibited good general combining ability. The hybrid crosses between L7 × T3 (Shahkar-13 × Gomal-2008) and L3 × T2 (Pasban-90 × Lasani-2008) demonstrated good specific combining ability (SCA) under both studied environments. The predominant non-additive type of gene action observed for all of the studied indices suggests the development of potential hybrids for drought tolerance.
Authors: Mueen Alam Khan, Noor Fatima, Hafiz Ghulam Muhu Din Ahmad, Baber Ali, Reem M. Aljowaie, Mohamed S. Elshikh, Rashid Iqbal, Maximilian Lackner
Language: English
Topic: Genetics and Plant Breeding
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: King Saud University
OpenAlex ID: W4410125191