| Genetics of kernel weight in wheat under different
environments V.P. SINGH1*, R.S. RANA2, M.S. CHAUDHARY3 and D. SINGH4 Department of Plant Breeding, Haryana Agricultural University Hisar, India Grain yield is a complex character governed by many genes and it is dependent on the sum total of contribution made by its direct components. Kernel weight is one of the most important component of yield in wheat. GRAFIUS (1956) has suggested the possibility of improving yield components than yield itself. Since then "component breeding" rather than direct selection on yield has commonly been practised. To improve the desirable attribute like kernel weight, the breeder has to adopt suitable breeding methodology. Obviously, knowledge of genetics of attribute will help in planning a strategy to achieve the objective. In the present paper genetical studies on kernal weight under different environments over the years using various biometrical approaches have been made. Materials and Methods Eight wheat varieties namely Kharchia 65, WH 157, HD 2009, WL 711, WG 357, K 68, IWP 72 and Narmada 4 having different height groups and seed size were crossed in all possible combinations excluding reciprocals. Both parents and F1's were grown vnder irrigated (EI), rainfed (EII) and saline (EIII) conditions at Hisar, Bawal and Karnal locations respectively during 1979-80 and 1980-81. Sowings were done in 3 m long rows spaced 25 cm apart with a plant to plant distance of 15 cm. 500 seeds were counted out of the bulk seed of the 10 competitive plants per replication and weighed. Weight of 1000 grain was obtained by doubling this weight of 500 seeds. Results and Discussion Significant differences were observed among genotypes in all the three environments over the years (Table 1). The mean squares due to gca and sca for kernel weight were highly significant under all the environments revealing thereby that both additive and non-additive type of gene effects were involved in the inheritance of this trait. The sca/gca ratio was more than one except in EIII (saline) during first year suggesting predominance of non-additive gene effects. The present findings are in close agreements with the earlier reports MULLAR et al. 1971 ; SRIVASTAVA et al. 1981). The estimates of gca effects are presented in Table 2. Cultivars WH 157, K68 and Narmada 4 were identified as good general combiners for kernel weight under all the three environments under study, whereas HD2009, WL711 and IWP72 were poor combiners for this trait. Kharchia 65 was good under rainfed but average under normal and saline conditions. WG357 was good, average and poor combiner under normal, rainfed and saline environments respectively. The rank correlation between parental per se and gca effects was observed as significant. |
| 1. Assistant Scientist (Wheat breeder, HAU Reg. Res. Station, Kaul, Kurukshetra)
2. National Fellow CSSRI, Karnal 3. Associate Dean, College of Agriculture, HAU, Hisar. 4. Barley Breeder, HAU, Hissar * Part of the Ph. D. thesis of first author. |
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