Genetic Characterization and Phytochemical Responses of Indian Wheat Cultivars With Functional Analysis of Flavonoid Biosynthesis Genes Under Drought Conditions

Abstract

Abiotic stresses such as drought diminishes growth and development which results in reduced production and yield of crop plants that are economically valuable. The biotechnological and molecular approaches will be helpful in meeting the food demands of the growing population. Hence, it is important to understand the adaptation behavior of the crop plant against drought-prone environment as well as to study the genetic capabilities that help in the survival of the plant under unfavorable climatic conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the wheat germplasm at morphological, biochemical, physiological, phytochemical and at molecular level under imposed drought stress along with functional analysis of flavonoid biosynthesis gene. For this purpose 20 wheat genotypes were treated with different concentration of PEG to imposed drought condition. After the present study it was observed that a progressive induced water stress using PEG-6000 causes significant changes at morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular in wheat. The genotype HD2733 and K9107 seem to be promising for high yield as they exhibited higher yield under water stress owing to the existence of drought tolerance mechanism through better management of root shoot mechanism, leaf area, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, proline and yield related characters. The studied germplasm were characterized at molecular level using 18 SSR markers. The similarity coefficient value for all the 20 genotypes ranged from 0.69 to 0.89. The minimum similarity exhibited by genotype DBW16 and PBW226. Whereas, the maximum similarity was shown by genotype K9423 and PBW533. This study has shown the existence of considerable genetic variation among the genotypes considered with may help for further selection and breeding. The result shows very high expression value of CHS gene for genotype HD2733 and K9107 as compared to genotype DBW71 and PBW553 at every level of polyethylene glycol concentration under imposed drought stress condition.