| Monosomic analysis of some morphological characters
in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. THELL) S.R. BHAT and J.V. GOUD Department of Agril Bot., coll. of Agriculture, Dharwad 580 005, India Introduction Monosomic analysis was invented by SEARS (1954) in wheat, to reduce the complexity of genetic analysis by reducing genetic duplication. This method has been employed for critical cytogenetic analysis in recent years. Dwarf plant stature of Mexican dwarf varieties which have wider adaptability is one of the important attributes of their excellency. Therefore, ALLEN et al. (1968) have stressed the need for a deeper understanding of the nature of inheritance of plant height. Days to heading is a complex character in wheat and is dependent on several factors like date of sowing, day length, latitude and day and night temperature. Its nature of dominance is still controversial. Spike length is under the control of mostly additive genes while a few cytogenetic investigations are available with respect to tillering ability of plant. Therefore, cytogenetic analysis was carried out to investigate these complex characters whose results are presented in this paper. Material and Methods The material for the present study comprised of 19 of the possible 21 monosomic F2 populations (except 1A and 4A), disomic population and the parents. Monosomic F2 populations were derived from the cross of corresponding monosomic lines of Pb. C591 with UP. 301. The material was grown in a randomised block design with three replications, in Botany Garden, College of Agriculture, Dharwad during 1976 rabi season. A spacing of 25 cm x 10 cm was given and a fertilizer dose of 100: 62.5: 37.5 kg of N, P2O5 and K2O per hectare was supplied. Irrigation was given at 15 days interval till maturity. Observations on plant height, spike length and number of tillers per plant were recorded at maturity. The day on which the basal most spikelet of the spike emerged from the boot leaf was taken as the date of heading from which days to heading was calculated. Mean and standard error for each population were calculated. To detect the critical monosomic populations means of the monosomic populations were compared with the disomic mean by 'Z' test given by SUNDARARAJ et al. (1972). |
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