Vol. 12, Issue 7 (2023)

A field experiment was conducted at RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, and Bihar during Rabi season of 2016-17 by using 24 diverse bread wheat genotypes with the objectives of estimating genotypic variability, heritability and genetic advance for yield & drought-related traits.

All wheat accessions were evaluated using randomized block design with three replications. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among all the bread wheat genotypes for all the characters under consideration. The maximum phenotypic and genotypic variance exhibited by all the traits under study except few traits. High GCV and PCV was observed for drought susceptibility index (DSI) indicating the importance of this trait in evaluation for drought tolerance and selecting the genotypes for drought tolerance. Moderate GCV and PCV was recorded for yield per plant, flag leaf area, number of grains per ear, harvest index, total number of tillers, 1000 grain weight and chlorophyll content. High heritability in broad sense were recorded for almost all the characters namely days to fifty per cent flowering, 1000 grain weight, drought susceptibility index, number of grains per ear, days to maturity, ear length, chlorophyll content, yield per plant, relative water content, number of tillers per plant and flag leaf area. High heritability value for these traits indicated that the variation observed was mainly due to genetic effect and were less influenced by the environment. High heritability coupled with moderate genetic advance as percentage of mean were observed for relative water content, no. of grains per ear and days to maturity. Therefore, it is concluded that simple selection scheme would be more effective to bring genetic improvement in drought tolerance genotypes.