Peer review

The biological nitrification inhibitor trait (BNI) inhibits nitrification activity, which enhances uptake of nitrogen and improves assimilation of ammonium in wheat. Three wheat genotypes with the BNI trait, as well as commercial cultivars DBW187, DBW303, and DBW371, were assessed for various agro-morphological traits at 0%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the recommended nitrogenous fertilizer. It was observed that traits such as spike length, length and width of flag leaf, biomass, harvest index, protein composition and grain yield, and nitrogen balance index (NBI) significantly decreased at lower nitrogen levels. The NBI, in conjunction with these traits, could be utilized to identify desirable plant types in the subsequent generations under low nitrogen conditions. The initial five principal components were found to account for 90.6% of the variability in the principal component analysis. The genotype by trait biplot's polygonal view revealed that NBI has a higher impact on BNI-derived lines. Following the assessment, BNI-Munal was recognized as a promising parent for integrating the BNI trait into the released varieties (DBW187, DBW222, DBW252, DBW110, and DBW303) used in the crossing programme. Several promising lines were identified in the F4 generation grown with 50% of the recommended nitrogen dose using the genome-specific molecular marker 24_s81287. Additionally, a breeding strategy is proposed to incorporate the BNI trait, aiming to reduce the nitrogen requirement of wheat crops.

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