Genetic analysis for economic traits in elite indigenous and exotic lines of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under timely sown high fertility conditions

Abstract

Genetic variability and character associations were estimated based on 111 elite bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes including advanced stage material from different regions and production conditions of India and Australia, to mark the diversity for ten important agronomic traits, viz- plant stand, days to heading, plant height, days to maturity, tillers per plot, spike length, grains per spike, spike weight, grain yield and 1000-grain weight (TKW) during the year 2009-2010. Results revealed that enough variability was present for all these traits. High heritability with moderate to low genetic advance was estimated for three metric traits namely; days to heading, spike length and spike weight thereby showing that this could be due to non-additive gene action or presence of G × E interaction. Therefore, simple selection and developing transgressive segregants through hybridization is suggested. Presence of significant and positive correlations between plant height, TKW, grains per spike and spike weight with grain yield, suggested that further yield improvement in bread wheat might be possible by emphasizing these traits through simple selection.