The majority of the wheat-growing area of Nepal depends upon seasonal rainfall for irrigation. Water scarcity during the critical wheat growing phases has been a major cause of poor production of wheat. To cope with the poor performance of wheat under rainfed conditions, it is crucial to identify the genotype adaptive to moisture-restricted conditions. The experiments were carried out using twenty wheat genotypes in alpha lattice design with two replications under irrigated and rainfed conditions at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Bhairahawa, Rupandehi. The genotypic evaluation was done using the Tolerance Index (TOL), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Yield Stability Index (YSI), Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), and Stress Tolerance Index (STI). Results showed grain yield of wheat was reduced by 64% under rainfed as compared to irrigated conditions. Correlation showed MP, GMP, and STI had a significant positive correlation with yield at irrigated (Yp) and yield at rainfed (Ys). Hence MP, GMP, and STI could be used to identify the high-yielding and stress-tolerant genotypes. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and biplot suggested, Nepal Line(NL) 1506 and NL 1508 as high-yielding and stress tolerant wheat genotypes. Hence these genotypes can further be evaluated in plant breeding programs to release as a climate resilient wheat genotypes for the overall yield improvement and food and nutritional security of Nepal.
wheat, rainfed, tolerance, adaptive, stress, indices
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