Phenotyping in Rye Landrace and Regeneration Frequency Study in Wheat × Rye F1 Hybrid Seeds

The present research aimed to study the phenotyping characterization of a high-altitude Himalayan rye landrace and its crossability with wheat genotypes and investigate the regeneration frequency of wheat × rye F1 hybrid seeds. The study was conducted during the rabi season of 2022-2023 at the Agriculture Research Farm, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab. The phenotypic characterization of the Himalayan rye landrace revealed several adaptive traits that were found suitable for cultivation in the northwest Indo-Gangetic plains. Furthermore, the study investigated the crossability of the Himalayan rye landrace with various wheat genotypes, including 4 genotypes of bread wheat HD2967, UNNAT 343, WH1105, and PBW502 and 4 genotypes of durum wheat PDW291, PDW274, PBW34, and WHD943. Among the germination percentage of all 8 genotypes, 4 in Bread wheat and 4 in Durum wheat was observed. Due to its self-incompatibility, Rye cannot be used to develop inbred lines directly. However, the doubled haploid approach can produce inbred lines in the rye, facilitating the extension of genetic bases and introducing alien chromatin to identify stress tolerances.