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Fifty wheat lines targeting semi-arid locations in India and Bangladesh were investigated for grain and straw yield and straw fodder quality traits for two consecutive years at two locations in India and one in Bangladesh. Fodder traits investigated were nitrogen (N), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), and metabolizable energy content (ME). Highly significant (P

Grain quality is an important determinant of market value of wheat. Identification of the genes that influence grain quality traits and estimation of effects of alleles of these genes can improve the effectiveness of wheat breeding. Sixty-four bread wheat cultivars from six different agro-climatic zones of India and eleven Australian cultivars were analyzed for the prevalence of Puroindoline (Pin) hardness mutations and Storage Protein Activator (SPA) alleles for detecting allelic diversity among these varieties. Most of the Australian genotypes had soft or semi hard textured grains and amplified both Pina and Pinb genes. In Indian genotypes, most of the genotypes had hard grain texture and the null mutation of Pina and the wild type Pinb allele (Pina-D1b/Pinb-D1a) was the most frequent combination in the Indian wheat germplasm. Predominance of Spa gene was observed in both Australian and Indian genotypes and all these genotypes recorded high grain protein content as compared to genotypes which are having null allele for SpaB gene. This study can provide useful information for the improvement of wheat quality in selecting parental lines for crossing to maximize diversity at these loci and enhance the effectiveness of molecular marker assisted crop breeding.