Identification and evaluation of important agronomic traits in 49 synthetic hexaploid wheat (AABBDD) germplasm resources grown on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Abstract

In this study, 49 ABD-type synthetic hexaploid wheat germplasm resources grown on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2022–2024 were measured for important agronomic traits. Clustering and principal component analyses were applied to classify and compare relevant indicators for a comprehensive evaluation. The aim was to identify outstanding synthetic hexaploid wheat germplasm and establish a new germplasm resource foundation for the breeding and improvement of new wheat varieties in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other regions with similar climatic conditions. The coefficient of variation for important agronomic traits ranged from 1.63% to 22.02%, with the highest coefficients of variation observed for spike stem node length, plant height, and thousand-grain weight. Cluster analysis revealed that the 49 synthetic hexaploid wheat germplasm resources could be divided into eight major clusters. Among them, the quality traits of the accessions belonging to clusters Ⅴ exhibited excellent performance, while the accessions with outstanding yield-related traits were concentrated in clusters Ⅲ and Ⅷ. Using the gray relational analysis method for comprehensive evaluation, the five germplasm resources with the highest scores were ABD-SHW-15 (64.53), ABD-SHW-6 (64.39), ABD-SHW-5 (63.70), ABD-SHW-14 (63.18), and ABD-SHW-38 (62.33).