1Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfilment of requirements for the M.Sc. degree of the I.A.R.I.
A comparative study of the limited backcross method (1, 2, 3 doses) and the pedigree method was made using 127 wheat strains derived from seven crosses involving three agronomic bases and three donor parents. The strains were evaluated for grain yield, ear number, 100-grain weight, heading date and rust reaction. The limited backcross method of breeding was found to be superior to the pedigree method in the case of grain yield, ear number and heading date. B3 was better than either B2 or B1. The pedigree method gave better results with respect to 100-grain weight. B1 was almost equal to the pedigree in its contribution. Black rust resistance has been achieved in all methods. Among parents N.P. 718 proved to be better, and out of crosses N.P. 718 x E. 581 and N.P. 718 x E. 957 were found to be better. Out of the two agronomic bases and two donor parents critically studied, N.P. 718 as an agronomic base and N.P. 790 as donor parent proved to be better than N.P. 710 and E. 581 respectively. Among the interactions between agronomic base x donor parents N.P. 718 X E. 957, N.P. 710 x N.P. 790 and N.P. 718 x E. 581 were found to be best.
