Evaluation and Selection of Wheat Lines for Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Pakistan

Drought and heat along with rusts are the most common biotic and abiotic stresses that affect growth, development and yield of wheat crop in Pakistan. CIMMYT in partnership with Wheat Research Institute Faisalabad (WRI-Fsd), USDA, and Kansas State University initiated an effort to develop heat tolerant, high yielding, and farmer-accepted rusts resistant wheat varieties for Pakistan. A set of 1656 wheat lines received in the form of EPCBW and SABWGPYT nurseries were tested in 2013-14 and 2014-15 wheat season, respectively. Testing of the materials at (WRI-Fsd), Pakistan under normal and late planting conditions resulted in the selection of 55 lines with higher grain yield and resistant to both leaf (LR) and yellow (YR) rusts. Among these lines, the line no. 1027 produced maximum yield (5.78 ton/ha) under normal and line no. 5030 produced maximum yield (3.38t/ha) under late planting conditions with resistance to both LR and YR. Further evaluation of the selected 55 lines as HYT-60 in 2015-16 showed the average grain yield ranged from 4.98 to 2.51 ton/ha under normal and 1.74 to 0.73 t/ha under late planting. Three lines HYT-60-57, HYT-60-7 and HYT-60-5 were included in the first year advanced yield trials to test for their potential as commercial cultivars while another seventeen lines were distributed as HYT-20 to six national wheat breeding programs for yield testing at key location which will enable national partners to combine yield potential with resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.