Determination of grain yield and quality traits of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) advanced mutant lines derived from gamma irradiation

The research was carried out to examine the agricultural characteristics of 23 bread wheat genotypes, including 15 mutant advanced lines developed by selection from M4 populations created by gamma ray, 5 parents and 3 standard varieties, according to the randomized block trial design with 3 replications during the 2021-2022 growing year under Edirne ecological conditions. In the study, the means of bread wheat genotypes ranged between 627.5 and 886.5 kg da-1 for grain yield, between 32.4 and 44.0 g for thousand grain weight, between 73.3 and 82.2 kg hl-1 for test weight, between 64.4 and 90.1% for grain hardness, between 319 and 486 10-4 x J for alveograph energy value, between 30.5 and 38.3% for wet gluten ratio, between 45 and 73 ml for Zeleny sedimentation value, between 2.75 and 4.43 for Quality Index (Zeleny sedimentation value/Protein rate), between 12.97 and 16.40% for protein ratio, between 104.19 and 141.23% for lactic acid SRC, between 86.39 and 98.48% for sucrose SRC, between 72.80 and 85.54% for sodium carbonate SRC and between 0.58 and 0.85 for Gluten performance index respectively. Compared to the parents and standard varieties, the mutant lines have higher values for thousand grain weight of 2.56%, for grain hardness of 2.16%, for alveograph energy value of 1.52%, for wet gluten content of 1.77%, for Zeleny sedimentation value of 1.75%, for quality index of 0.05%, for lactic acid SRC of 4.70%, for sucrose SRC of 1.79%, for gluten performance index of 5.48% and for grain yield of 1.53%, they gave lower averages for test weight of 0.9% and for sodium carbonate SRC of 0.24%. As a result of the general evaluation of the examined traits, Flamura 85 400/1, NKÜ Lider 100/19, NKÜ Lider 200/6, NKÜ Ergene 200/126, NKÜ Lider 200/13, NKÜ Lider 400/4, NKÜ Lider 200/8 bread wheat mutant lines had higher grain yield and quality compared to the rootstock and standard varieties. It has been concluded that these advanced bread wheat mutant lines can be used in yield trials as suitable variety candidates for the Thrace region and other bread wheat production regions of our country and can also be used as germplasm in future wheat breeding studies. Key Words: Bread Wheat, Mutant line, Grain yield, Quality characteristics, Solvent retention capacity tests, Gluten performance index.