Evaluation of performance and grain qualtty charactristics of promising durum wheat lines in farmer's fields in Khuzestan province

Identifying superior genotypes in breeding programs is always difficult due to environmental changes in the target areas and the interaction of these changes with the studied genotypes. Therefore, advanced agricultural lines in breeding programs should be evaluated in environments with different weather conditions in different years to ensure production and stable performance. A genotype usually has different reactions in terms of yield in various environments. The purpose of this research is to increase the area under cultivation of durum wheat and introduce new high-performing varieties to farmers.

In this regard, two new and promising lines of durum wheat obtained from the country's hot climate durum wheat breeding program, numbered D-98-8 and D-98-10, which were tested during the two crop years of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 (EDYT-W2019) with higher yield than the available commercial cultivars, were selected. To compare the yield with Shabarang variety (as a control), they were grown in the farmers' fields in the warm climate of Khuzestan province ( Hamidiyeh and Ramhormoz cities). The seeds of the two superior durum wheat lines, D-98-8 and D-98-10, with Shebarang as the best regional and national control, were planted in November with a density of 450 seeds per square meter and using a seeder. The area of ​​each treatment in each location was 2500 square meters (without repetition) and according to the existing conditions of the area, gravity irrigation was used. During the growing season, routine operations were carried out and visits to the farm were made regularly and necessary notes were taken. To check the nutritional value, the qualitative characteristics of its bakery were analyzed.

The results of the qualitative analysis showed that the line of D-98-10 was in good condition in terms of semolina extraction percentage (74%), protein percentage (12%) and other investigated traits. Based on the field analysis, in both locations, the D-98-10 line was almost the early-mature line and showed the highest yield (by 5.6%) compared to the Shabrang control. Line D-98-8 with 130 days was a med-maturing line and Shabrang with 135 days was the late one. In both locations, the D-98-10 line showed a higher yield than the other two genotypes, while being suitable for early maturity.

In total, D-98-10 and D-98-8 lines were selected due to their superior yield, relative earliness, high 1000 seed weight and relative superiority in terms of other studied traits compared to Shabrang variety, and they could be used for further investigation and release as a new variety of durum wheat for hot regions of the country.