Root Trait Characteristics and Genotypic Response in Wheat under Different Water Regimes

Under limiting water resources, root system response of genotypes to soil-water conditions with enhanced shoot biomass holds the key for development of improved genotypes. Based on the hypothesis of root biomass contribution to higher yields under limiting conditions which might be attributed to the root system plasticity of genotypes, a set of thirty-four genotypes were evaluated under three moisture regimes in a pot experiment for root system traits. Total root dry matter had a positive association with total shoot dry matter (0.35). The identified genotypes showed greater yields and higher stress tolerance index (STI) in an independent field experiment. Root dry matter positively correlated with stress tolerance index on grain yields in both the years. The total variation was partitioned into principal components and GGE biplots were studied to identify the best performing genotypes under the three environments for root dry biomass and related traits. HD2932 appeared to be the winner genotype under different regimes. These results might be helpful in identifying donors for moisture stress tolerance that can be utilized in wheat breeding programmes for accelerated development of varieties with improved root systems.