Genetic Interrelationship Among Newly-Bred Mutant Lines of Wheat Using Diagnostic Simple Sequence Repeat Markers and Phenotypic Traits Under Drought

Background/Objectives: Induced mutagenesis is vital in genetic enhancement and trait discovery, for genetic analysis and breeding of novel crop varieties with desirable product profiles. Understanding the genetic relationships among newly developed mutant genotypes enables targeted selection and genetic recombination. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to assess the genetic diversity among mutant bread wheat genotypes developed through ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis using phenotypic traits and diagnostic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to identify novel mutants and traits for breeding. Methods: Sixteen advanced (M6) mutant lines, one parental genotype, and three check varieties were genetically profiled using ten diagnostic SSR markers. The genotypes were evaluated for agronomic traits under drought-stressed (DS) and non-stressed (NS) conditions using a 10 × 2 alpha lattice design with two replications. Results: The SSR markers revealed a total of 21 alleles, with an average of 2.10 alleles per locus. An average polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.51 was computed, revealing moderate informativeness of the genetic markers. Significant (p < 0.05) differences were observed among the test genotypes for key agronomic traits under NS and DS conditions. Grain yield positively and significantly (p < 0.001) correlated with plant height (r = 0.79), number of productive tillers (r = 0.82), root biomass (r = 0.77), shoot biomass (r = 0.74), spike length (r = 0.74), total biomass (r = 0.74), and thousand-seed weight (r = 0.64), under DS conditions. Principal component analysis explained 78.03 and 87.14% genotype variation for assessed agronomic traits under DS and NS conditions, with total biomass, shoot biomass, root biomass, productive tiller, plant height and grain yield as key traits contributing the most variation in the test genotypes. Conclusions: Wheat mutants LMA16, LMA44, and LMA53 were identified as genetically distinct and high yielders under drought stress conditions and recommended for production in rain-fed environments. The selected mutants are a valuable source of genes for wheat improvement programs.