| Screening of wheat germplasm for Mn deficiency stress
tolerance N.P. KAUR, P.N. TAKKAR and A.K. GUPTA Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India In coarse textured soils of Punjab under rice rotation, the deficiency of available manganese has been increasing at an alarming rate. This problem can be tackled either through amending the soil with Mn-bearing fertilizer or by selecting and/or breeding Mn-efficient varieties. The prohibitory fertilizer costs have forced us to look for nutrient efficient genotypes of crops that will grow and produce economic yields with minimal fertilizer inputs. Mn efficiency of oats S171 (VOSE & GREFFITHS 1961), Thatcher Wheat (NYBORG 1970) and Indian wheat varieties, HD 2009, C 306 and triticale TL 419 (KAUR & TAKKAR 1987) have been reported. The following study reveals beginning of a detailed screening programme for available wheat germplasm in the country for Mn efficiency factors. Soil culture technique was used for screening of wheat germplasm tolerant to Mn stress condition. Mn deficient soil (0 - 15 cm top layer) was collected and was air-dried, ground and thoroughly homogenized. Half kg soil was mixed with urea, KH2PO4 and ZnSO4 to supply 120 mg N, 60 mg P2O5 and 5 mg Zn/kg soil and placed in plastic containers. The physico-chemical characteristics of the soil were: loamy sand, pH 9.1, organic matter 0.37%, EH 0.2, 01son's P 7.5 kg/ha, available K 368 kg/ha, DTPA-extractable Mn 1.6 mg/kg, Zn 3.0 mg/kg, Fe 8 mg/kg and Cu 0.7 mg/kg soil. One hundred wheat genotypes, 50 each of Triticum aestivum and T. durum, differing in morphological, genetic and yield characters were sown, five seedling in each remained at 12 days, with 3 pot replicates in a randomized block design. The appearance of deficiency symptoms was recorded on alternate days. Dry weight of seedlings was recorded after 70 days stage. |
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