achla@pau.edu

In the post green-revolution decades, Indian Punjab’s agriculture and its position as the pre-eminent contributor of food grains to the country has been sustained by well-tuned varietal input by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). The future viability of the program, however, is challenged by changes not only in the technological and policy arena, but also the consumer preferences and awareness.

The breeding programmes operating initially in a food deficit context could pay scant attention to quality parameters so that even the farmer became hesitant to grow the limited quality wheat germplasm available indigenously, for example sphaerococcums which were native to Punjab, were totally phased off due to lesser yields and hence marginal profits. However, the transition has been initiated at PAU by shifting the focus towards enhancing quality & end product specificity which has let to success stories by development of specialty wheat varieties. PBW 1 Zinc (2017) and PBW Zinc 2 (2023) has almost 25% more zinc in the grain. PBW Zinc 2 has been developed through wide hybridization and MAS using Triticum boeoticum as source of high zinc content and PBW 703 as a source of high yield, stripe and leaf rust resistance.

PBW RS1, developed by PAU (2023) is a first wheat variety of India combining five novel SBEII alleles along with stripe rust resistance and high protein genes having enhanced amylose content which is known to have nutraceutical value owing to the decreased digestibility of starch and lower glycaemic index. It has 3 – 4 times higher resistant starch than the check varieties.

Wheat breeding program at PAU has responded to changing expectations regarding processing traits which has resulted in the development of ‘PBW 1 Chapati’ and ‘PBW 1 Biscuit’. PBW 1 Chapati cooks soft, whitish and sweet premium chapati with desirable palatability and texture, comparable to ‘desi wheats’. PBW 1 biscuit has been developed using winter wheat as softness donor and has medium soft grains with spread factor of 9.8/10, suitable for making biscuit having desirable colour, texture and cracks.

The development of wheat varieties combining two or more novel nutritional components in future is a prized target of the team.