Root traits profiling for identification of nitrogen efficient wheat lines

With the goal to mitigate production costs, promote sustainable agriculture and reduce high nitrogenous fertilizer consumption in wheat, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) need to be strengthened by integrating morphological and traditional approaches. The Root system architecture (RSA) exert a major role in determining the amount of Nitrogen (N) uptake by various genotype under various N regimes. Total 147 germplasm lines of wheat were characterized for root characters at seedling stage grown under optimum (4 mM) and low nitrogen (0.04 mM) condition during 2024-25 at Shandong Agriculture University in Artificial condition. The shoot length, average diameter and shoot biomass significantly decreased at low N, while total root length, the primary root length, total root surface area, total number of root tips, root biomass, total root volume and root to shoot ratio significantly increased in artificial condition. Based on the results of the principal component analysis (PCA), PC1 and PC2 collectively explained 76.45 % and 72.39 % of the variability under optimal N and low N, respectively. Maximum portion of variability was exhibited by total shoot length, shoot biomass, root to shoot ratio, root volume and primary root length in both nitrogen condition. Cluster analysis showed that under low N, cluster I germplasm lines had higher root growth and lower shoot growth while cluster III germplasm lines had reduced root growth. These N-efficient germplasm lines can be utilized for further utilization in breeding programme.