Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
Diallel crosses involving 10 Indian and exotic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), varieties were studied in F1 generation. Both additive and dominance genetic variances were important for 100-grain weight, tiller number and ear length. Predominance of additive genetic variance was, however, observed for grains per ear and plant height. Evidence of genie interactions was also observed for grains per ear, 100-grain weight and tiller number. Overdominance was operative for 100-grain weight, tiller number and ear length, whereas an evidence of directional partial dominance was observed for grains per ear and plant height. Narrow-sense heritability was moderate for 100-grain weight and ear length. It was fairly high for grains per ear and plant height and was low for tiller number.
Exotic parents Norin 48, S 413, Argelto and some Indian varieties developed from exotic material (Kalyan Sona and Sharbati Sonora) had favourable alleles for grains per ear, tiller number, ear length and dwarfness. However, Indian wheats NP 890 and C 273 were desirable for bold grain size. Generally the crosses using Indian × exotic parents had high specific effects. The importance of involving superior exotic and Indian parents in future wheat breeding programmes has been emphasized.
