Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
Three hundred genotypes of bread and durum wheats including Indian and exotic
collections were evaluated for 10 yield and other related characters. Five characters
(grain and biological yields, tiller number, grain weight/.ear and grains/ear) exhibited
high variability. Of the remaining five traits, flag leaf area and 100-grain weight
showed moderate variability while plant height, peduncle length and harvest index
showed relatively low variability. Following 'the non-hierarchical euclidean cluster
analysis, all the 300 genotypes were grouped into 16 clusters with variable number
of genotypes. Genotypes of heterogeneous origin! place of release, and of different
ploidy levels (bread and durum wheats) often grouped together in the same cluster,
suggesting some degree of ancestral relationship between the genotypes. This also
suggested a lack of relationship between the genetic diversity and the ploidy level
of genotypes. On the basis of the data on genetic divergence and mean performance
of yield and other traits, five diverse and superior genotypes, namely MUW 109,
CPAN 3064, CPAN 1556, MUW 104, and CPAN 1998 were selected. Each of these
genotypes was exceptionally good for one or more characters and was reasonable
for other characters relatives to those, of the best check varieties. Therefore, these
genotypes may be involved in multiple crossing programme to recover transgressive
segregates. Further, on the basis of character associations, it is argued that selection
of plants with high biological yield coupled with optimum harvest index (50%)
should result in progenies with high grain yield potential in wheat.
Keywords: Wheats, morphophysiological traits, cluster analysis, genetic divergence.
Year: 1998
Volume: 58
Issue: 3
Article DOI: NA
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
P. K. SHARMA, P. K. GUPTA AND H. S. BALYAN info_circle
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