Diversity Analysis of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes Based onYield and Yield Related Traits

Abstract

The research was conducted during July–November in 2023 at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center on 50 bread wheat genotypes to assess traits contributing to phenotypic variation, cluster genotypes into divergent groups, estimate genetic distances between clusters.  The analysis of variance revealed significant genetic variability (p<0.01) for all studied traits. The mean performance of the genotypes showed a wide range of values for traits. For instance, days to   heading ranged from 62 to 74.5 days, and days to maturity ranged 112.5 to 122 days.  Thousand kernel weight varied from 26 g to 40 g, with a promising aspect was that 34 genotypes exhibited superior thousand kernel weight compared to the check variety Boru.    Hectoliter weight ranged from 65.73 to 73.15 hl kg^-1, and a positive sign was that 46 genotypes   displayed superior hectoliter weight values than Boru. Grain yield ranged from 753.5 to 1751 kg ha^-1, all genotypes exhibited superior grain yield except 10 genotypes compared to Boru. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into four distinct clusters, indicating diversity within the wheat population.  The inter cluster distance analysis revealed significant genetic differences between clusters, with the greatest genetic distance observed between Cluster I and Cluster IV.  Crossing between genotypes from these clusters could lead to beneficial recombinants with improved traits. The first three principal components accounted 73.03% of the total observed phenotype variation with the major contributor of grain yield, thousand kernel weight, agronomic score and hectolitre weight. Generally, the findings underlined the potential for breeding high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties.