Department of Plant Breeding, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar, India
G X E interactions have been studied in four crosses viz., ‘Cormorant X Malvaraj’, ‘Malvaraj x Maxicale-75’, ‘Jcri C-69 X Cocorit-71’ and ‘Malvika X Maxicale-75’ along with the parents, F2’s and back cross progenies for plant height, spikes per plant, grains per spike, harvest index, biological yield per plant and grain yield per plant of macaroni wheat. Presence of G X E interactions was revealed for all the traits except harvest index. In general and more particularly for yield the G X E (linear) interaction was more as compared to non-linear portion of G X E interaction. Hence, yield performance could be predicted across the environments. For grain yield as well as for biological yield the phenomenon of heterosis and inbreeding depression was observed for mean, response and stability in case of ‘Malvika X Maxicale-75. This cross figured to be the best cross. The mean performance appeared to be associated with linear component of G X E interaction, for all the characters except plant height, whereas mean and S2d were positively associated for spikes per plant only. Plant height and spikes per plant were found to influence responsiveness of yield, whereas, no such influence was recorded in favour of stability.
