abstract
-
Zinc (Zn) deficiency is the most important malnutrition problems affecting over one-third of the world’s population. In Pakistan, National Nutrition Survey (NNS) report indicates that 40% children (<5 years) and 48% of pregnant women are Zn deficient with relatively higher proportions in rural setting. Breeding effectiveness in developing zinc wheat for Southeast Asia was optimized by the selection of 100-150 promising advanced lines at CIMMYT each year, based on grain yield and grain zinc, for testing in genotype-by-environment (G X E) trials for agronomic attributes and grain zinc. These lines are disseminated to south Asian countries every year including Pakistan. This provides us opportunity to select high yielding, Zn enriched elite genotypes that suits in our local environmental condition. Two CIMMYT trials were conducted during the crop growth period 2020-21 viz.11th HarvestPlus Yield Trial (HPYT) and 12th HarvestPlus South Asia Nursery (HPAN) at five locations across Pakistan. Fifty elite wheat genotypes in 11th HarvestPlus Yield Trial (HPYT) and 290 genotypes in 12th HarvestPlus South Asia Nursery (HPAN) were tested for yield potential, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and grain Zn. Locations include Wheat Research Institute Faisalabad, Regional Agricultural Research Institute Bahawalpur, National Agricultural Research Center Islamabad, Cereal Crop Research Institute Pir Sabak and Wheat Research Institute Sakrand. Genotype X Environment (G X E) testing of 50 best lines in target locations exhibited limited G X E interaction with significant genotypic effect and non-significant G X E interaction effect of entries across all five locations. In all locations, various lines were superior to checks on the basis of yield, Zn and Fe contents and resistance towards biotic and abiotic stresses. Best performing genotypes from 12th HarvestPlus South Asia Nursery (HPAN) were also selected on the basis of mentioned traits for further multi-locational testing. About 2-3 biofortified genotypes were identified from each location with performance superior to local checks. These genotypes will further be subjected to seed multiplication, release and use as parent in future breeding programs.