Genetic diversity analysis in Pakistani commercial and landrace genotypes of bread wheat

In this analysis, the genetic diversity in 50 (25 commercial and 25 landraces) bread wheat genotypes were examined for phenotype, with a goal of revealing correlations between yield and 12 other common agro-morphological characters. An experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The mean squares values from analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for all 13 character among the tested genotypes, indicating that these materials can be evaluated in further experiments. Based on mean performance, the commercial wheat variety NIA-Sundar and landrace T-23 produced the maximum grain yield per plot when compared to the other genotypes, demonstrating the importance of these two genotypes in wheat breeding programs. High heritability estimates (h2) were detected for all character, signifying that the variation observed was mainly under genetic control and was less influenced by the environment. Hence, the improvement of this character can be made through direct phenotypic selection. The results also showed that spike length, grains spike-1, grain weight spike-1, tillers/m2, seed index, and biological yield plot-1 had positive and significant associations with grain yield plot-1, demonstrating that genotypes having more of this character may be preferred in selection for generating high yielding bread wheat genotypes. Comparing the genetic variability between commercial and landraces of bread wheat through PCA, traditional wheat genotypes tended to possess more genetic variance in the first three components of PCA than its counterpart. That indicates that old wheat genotypes possess precious genetic resources; thus, these genetic resources should be cultivated in future breeding programs. Via cluster analysis, diverse parents have also been identified, signifying their importance for upcoming hybridization programs.