Phenotypic Variability among Parental Lines and Progenies of Bread Wheat

Abstract

Wheat is the second most important cereal staple food crop consumed nearly 35% of world population and provides 20% food calories. It’s a self-pollinating annual plant in the true grass family Gramineae (Poaceae) and genus Triticum, is the world’s most famous energy rich cereal crop. The wheat is a hexaploid (allohexaploid) species (2n =6x= 42) having AABBDD with A, B and D genome. The present research investigates fifty-six genotypes of bread wheat consisting of 33 F1s obtained by crossing eleven lines with three varieties in a line x tester mating design along with their parents and two well-known checks. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. Results revealed considerable genetic variability among the genotypes. Traits like grain yield per plant and number of tillers per plant exhibited higher values of PCV with moderate GCV. High heritability with moderate values of genetic advance were recorded for grain weight per spike (17.688%) followed by number of grains per spike (17.4 %), biological yield per plant (14.7 %), 1000 grain weight (11.9 %) indicating involvement of additive gene action in the inheritance of these traits and hence selection along with progeny testing can be employed for improvement of these characters. According to correlation studies, there is a substantial positive link between the trait grain yield per plant and the number of tillers per plant, harvest index, and biological yield per plant. Selection for these qualities will therefore eventually contribute to the genotypes' increased total output. Early maturing cultivars should be chosen when breeding for a better yield because it was also shown that the number of days to maturity had a negative correlation with the yield.