Abstract
High concentration of phytate in wheat flour hinders the absorption and utilization of some essential nutrients such as Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca) etc. A 5 x 5 diallel field research was conducted at the research farm of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Agricultural University Peshawar during 2007-08 and 2008-09 to determine Phytate concentration F1 hybrids and parent genotypes of wheat. All 20 F1 hybrids and 5 parent genotypes were planted at research farm of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Agricultural University using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. At threshing, grains from each plot were collected and Phytic acid was determined at Nuclear Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The values for Phytic acid ranged between 0.81% to 3.91% among the hybrids while the parent genotypes ranged from 1.25% to 3.42% at NIFA. The hybrid genotypes gave a wider range for phytic acid concentration compared to parent genotypes, indicating transgression at both ends. This study identified some potential hybrid populations with significantly lower phytate concentration in wheat grains, thus providing useful material to wheat breeders. These hybrids are recommended to be included further in breeding programmes and should be screened in the coming generations in order to obtain a wheat genotype with low phytate concentration which should be a big breakthrough in the improvement of nutritional quality of wheat as Phytic acid is a potent inhibitor for micro and macronutrients which in turn cause nutritional deformities in human beings. Generation of low phytate genotype is a dire need in order to overcome on nutritional deformities such as Anemia, Rickets and Osteomalacia etc.
