abstract
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Sixth, seventh and eighth Harvest Plus Yield Trial (HPYT) with 47 biofortified and 3 non-biofortified bread wheat genotypes; Baj#1, Kachu#1 and WK1204 (local check) was conducted at six locations of Nepal - Doti, Kabre, Khumaltar, Khajura, Bhairahawa and Surkhet during three consecutive years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. Agro-morphological traits, grain yield and yield components, grain zinc and iron content of tested genotypes were studied. Grain zinc and iron content was found significantly different by locations and genotypes. Grain iron content was highest in Doti but lowest in Surkhet. Likewise, grain zinc content was highest in Khumaltar while lowest in Kabre. Heritability of grain yield ranged from 0.20 to 0.30, Fe content ranged from 0.15 to 0.54 and Zn content ranged from 0.40 to 0.58.Genetic advance of grain yield, Fe content and Zn content ranged from 266 to298 kg/ha, 1.61 to 6.99ppm and 2.99 to 4.79ppm respectively. In 6th HPYT, 408 (40.82) was found to be highest zinc containing line, whereas all genotypes were found superior than WK1204 (29.62 ppm). Highest iron content was found in line 404 (46.63 ppm), while WK1204 (40.00 ppm) ranked 31st. Line 437 was highest yielder (3565 kg/ha) while WK1204 (3345 kg/ha) ranked 19th.On 7th HPYT, line 418 (46.8 ppm) was highest iron containing genotype compared to WK1204 (44.5 ppm) which ranked 49th. Thirty-eight of the tested genotypes had higher zinc content than WK1204 (34.6 ppm) with line 404 (41.5ppm) showing highest grain zinc content. The lines in HPYT were superior in grain yield compared to WK1204. For instance, in 7thHPYT, line 440 was best for grain yield (5107 kg/ha) whereas WK1204 (4858kg/ha) ranked 25th. In 8thHPYT, line 417 was found to contain highest grain Zn (31.49 ppm) and Fe (48.98ppm) whereas WK1204 ranked 45th(28.5ppm)and 44th (38.62 ppm) respectively. Grain yield of line 416 was highest (3863 kg/ha) whereas WK1204 (3258 kg/ha) ranked 24th. Most of the lines in HPYT were superior for grain iron and zinc content as well as grain yield than non-biofortified checks. Thus, simultaneous improvement of grain zinc and iron content along with grain yield in bread wheat can be achieved without sacrificing its gain. WK3025, WK3026 and WK3027 are found candidate lines for release within 2 years.