Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141 004
The genotype-environment interaction has been studied mall X 11 diallel cross of bread wheat for plant height, ear length, peduncle length and number of spikelets per spike. The interaction was significant fcr all the characters studied. The predictable portion was larger for plant height, peduncle length and the number of spikelets per spike. For ear length the reverse was true. Out of the parental varieties, WG 377 showed only the linear component to be significant for all the characters. On the other extreme was the performance exhibited by Kalyansona. Rest of the parents were intermediate. From among the crosses, Kalyansona X WL 410 was characterised with complete absence of g X e. Another hybrid Sonalika X HD 1981 exhibited largest linear sensitivity to the environments whereas for Sonalika X HD 2177 most of the contribution to the g X e was from unpredictable component. There was a significant negative correlation between (b) and S2 di) for ear length, between (µ) and S2 di) for peduncle length and number of spikelets per spike. A significant and positive correlation between (ft.) and (b) for plant height was the only antagonistic association.
