Effect of boron on pollen sterility in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

From five hundred genotypes screened initially for boron efficiency, six genotypes, namely, PBW 343, HD 2733, DBW 14, Schomburgk, WH 736 and Halna were serlected and crossed in a half diallel fashion to obtain 15 F1s. The parents and F1s were studied for different growth components, yield and yield attributes under boron deficient (B₀ =0.5 ppm) and boron-supplemented (B₁=1.5 ppm) condition (borax applied @ 20 kg/ha in soil) in a randomized block design. Pollen sterility varied from 8.42% (Schomburgk) to 30.04% (HD 2733) under Bo condition whereas under B₁ condition it varied from 2.57% to 5.45% for Schomburgk and HD 2733 respectively. Among the crosses HD 2733 × DBW 14 (8.88%) followed by WH 736 × Schomburgk (8.92%) had significantly lower pollen sterility % under B₀ condition whereas under B₁ condition, DBW 14 × Schomburgk (2.50%) and HD 2733 × DBW 14 (2.43%) had lower percentage of pollen sterility. Schomburgk was the most boron efficient genotype among parents in terms of yield per plant while among the crosses WH 736 x Schomburgk was the best. Predictability ratio was more than o.5 for all the characters under both the conditions, which indicates predominance of additive gene action.