Molecular cytogenetic analysis of novel wheat-rye translocation lines and their characterization for drought tolerance and yellow rust resistance

The present research endeavour was executed with 59 rye introgressed wheat lines including 52 triticale x wheat stable lines and 7 wheat x rye (Lahaul Local) introgressed doubled haploids. The detection of new recombinants through molecular cytogenetic tools viz. genomic in situ hybridization and fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed 1BL.1RS translocation in 33 lines, 1BL.1RS translocation along with substitution in 5 lines, 1BL.1RS translocation along with addition in 8 lines, substitution of single pair of rye chromosomes in 5 lines and addition of rye chromatin in 1 line, while 7 lines were found with no rye chromatin. To validate the effect of rye introgression on drought tolerance and yellow rust resistance, all 59 recombinants were evaluated under well-watered and water stressed conditions at in vivo. Analysis of variance revealed sufficient genetic variability among genotypes for different traits at both in vivo level. Under field conditions, direct influence of rye introgression was observed on plant height, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index. Overall, 1BL.1RS translocations and substitutions were found to exhibit significant influence on most of the drought parameters. The screening for yellow rust resistance revealed differential disease reaction, where 52 recombinants were observed to be resistant. The lines exhibiting superiority for the traits can be used as a parental source in wheat improvement endeavours.