NAMES, PEDIGREES, ORIGINS, AND ADAPTATION - IBSA

INTRODUCTIONA wide array of improved wheat cultivars suited to different agro-ecologicalconditions has been released in India since the inception ofsystemetic researchat the turn ofthe century. These cultivars represent two distinct eras ofvarietalimprovement. The first era, which continued up to early 1960s, mainlyemphasised traditional wheats within the frame work of subsistenceagriculture. The second era, on the other hand, represents releases largely ofshort-stawed, high yielding, photo-insensitive cultivars that not onlytransformed subsistence agriculture into modern agriculture and ushered inthe 'Green Revolution'; but also enabled the whf"at revolution to be sustainedover the years.International cooperation in the exchange ofwheat germplasm and informationhas played a very important role in the genetic amelioration of this cropworldwide including India. A wealth ofimproved tall and semidwarfcultivars,elite advanced lines, and segregating materials of foreign origin has beenintroduced, assessed, and utilized directly as cultivars and/or as breedingparents for broadening the genetic base for disease resistance, short plantheight, and other characteristics. Similarly, Indian land races and improvedfinished products from India have been used directly in several countries ascultivars or as donors for characters such as earliness, tolerance to abioticstresses, and grain quality. The strengthening of collaboration between Indiaand several international organizations (especially CIMMYT) in the exchangeof material and information has enabled rapid inflow as well as outflow ofelitegermplasm. The finished products from India are being assessed worldwide.Documentation of pedigrees and other relevant information on cultivarsprovides an important and easy source ofcommunication among plant breedersand researchers to understand and exchange germplasm. However, such aninformation on Indian wheats is widely scattered in the literature and is noteasily accessible. The Indian literature also does not show consistency indescribing the pedigrees of many wheat cultivars released in India. In manycases, codes (i.e., breeding or identification numbers) have been used whichhave a limited meaning for general use. The present compilation aims toprovide, in one package, pedigrees and other relevant information on bread,durum, and emmer spring wheats released in India over nine decades; Indianand foreign germplasm used in developing those wheats; Indian land races andelite germplasm (either developed locally or selected from foreign germplasm)that have been either released or utilized in hybridization to develop improvedcultivars in various countries. It is hoped that this information will promotereliable communication about this germplasm.1