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Yield Component Heritabilities and Interrelationships in Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)¹

A seven-parent diallel cross of winter wheat was grown in the F₁ generation in hills for 2 years and in the F₂ generation in hills and in nursery yield plots the second year. Heritability estimates for earliness of flowering, height, number of spikes, kernels per spike, kernel weight, and grain yield were obtained from regression of F₁ or F₂ means on mid-parent values. Simple correlations were calculated among all variables. The correlations were analyzed further by the path coefficient technique to determine direct and indirect effects.

Heritability estimates from data from hills for earliness, height, number of spikes, and kernels per head were high and those for kernel weight and grain yield were intermediate or low. Estimates in the F₁ and F₂ generations from data obtained from hill plots were reasonably similar. Estimates of heritabilities for the six characters from the F₂ generation, were very similar for hills and thick-seeded nurseries.

The three components of yield were highly correlated with grain yield. The path-coefficient analysis indicated that each of the components had large direct effects on grain yield but important indirect effects resulting from negative correlations among yield components.

Key Words: hill technique • hybrid wheat • wheat breeding

² Formerly Rockefeller Fellow (now Acting Head, Colombian Barley Breeding Program and Dean of the Agronomy School in the National University, Bogota, Colombia); and Professor of Agronomy, respectively.

Received for publication April 19, 1968.