Genetic analysis of grain yield and its components in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

The generations mean analysis was carried out in four crosses of wheat to estimate genetic parameters viz., m, (d), (h), (i), (j) and (1) for grain yield and other component traits. The estimates of gene effects showed that the additive (d) gene effect was predominant in the inheritance of days to heading, number of effective tillers per plant, flag leaf area, length of main spike, number of spikelets per spike and grains per spike. On the other hand, dominance (h) gene effect was predominant for plant height. Both additive and dominance effects were found important in determining biological yield per plant and grain yield per plant. All the three types of epistatic gene effects viz., additive × additive (i), additive × dominance (j) and dominance × dominance (1) were involved in governing days to heading, flag leaf area and length of main spike. The additive component of genetic variance could be fixed by simple pedigree selection in the diverse crosses.case of the characters where, both additive and non-additive components are involved, biparental mating coupled with recurrent selection would be highly effective for isolating high yielding lines.