Corresponding author e-mail address: Sundeep.Kumar@icar.gov.in

​Wheat is crucial for India's food security, but its growth is hampered by various stresses, leading to low-quality grains and yield. To address this, an Indian wheat genomics initiative was taken to explore the genetic diversity stored in the National Gene bank of India. The National Gene bank of India houses a rich collection of wheat germplasm, including landraces, cultivars, and lines from around the world.

However, breeding stress-tolerant wheat varieties has been challenging due to genetic and environmental complexities, lack of resistant germplasm, and reliable markers. Therefore, a pioneering effort was made to incorporate innovative breeding technologies, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic selection (GS), which consider genotype-environment interactions, can advance crop improvement by enhancing climatic resilience, integrating biotic stress resistance, and maximizing yield potential.

A set of around 7000 wheat germplasm accessions were evaluated for biotic stresses (leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, Karnal bunt, Fusarium head blight, spot blotch, powdery mildew, and Alternaria blight), abiotic stresses (drought, heat, salinity, and cold tolerance) and quality traits at 19 different institutions from four different wheat growing zones of India (NHZ, NWPZ, NEPZ, CZ, and PZ).

Several promising germplasm lines for different biotic and abiotic and quality traits were identified based on the preliminary evaluation. For example, IC406690 (29.1%) was identified for high amylose content. Similarly, IC15048, IC16124, IC14102 (≥16%) for high protein content, IC598274, IC336494 for high Iron content (>60mg/kg) and IC252830 and IC296727 for high Zinc content (55mg/kg) were identified.

In addition, lines having high fructan content ≥ 2.0% i.e. IC19015, IC25060, IC41056, IC11057, IC20005 and low fructan content (0.51-0.68%) IC532434, IC524220, IC0534077, IC138559, IC549410 were also identified. These accessions were genotyped using 35K Axiom array and this genotypic data along with the phenotypic data is being used for Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of various biotic traits (Rust, Spot Blotch and Powdery mildew) and abiotic traits (heat tolerance).

We have identified novel QTLs for spot blotch, leaf rust, stripe rust and powdery mildew resistance in wheat which will be discussed during the presentation. Additionally, we are extensively assessing this large germplasm set to identify promising QTLs for wheat quality traits.

Thus, the Indian wheat germplasm genomics initiative aims to establish a complete process that links the assessment of germplasm with genomic data. This will enable faster integration of native wheat germplasm into national breeding efforts, focusing on enhancing traits related to pests, environmental stresses, and grain quality.