Opportunities for wheat cultivars with superior straw quality traits targeting the semi-arid tropics

Abstract 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  2 ) heritabilities were observed for ADF (h 2  = 0.31) and ADL (h 2  = 0.34), whereas h 2 for other fodder traits were very low. Extrapolation of mean differences among lines in straw fodder quality traits across locations and years suggests that the best lines could meet the highest quality criteria observed in wheat straw trading with price premiums of 10–17% depending on whether the trading occurred in a rural or an urban area, respectively.