An assessment of the production and performance of F1 hybrid wheats based on Triticum timopheevi cytoplasm

Abstract

This work reports on the production and yield assessment of F1 wheat hybrids from crosses between cytoplasmic male sterile lines, with Triticum timopheevi cytoplasm, and cultivars with fertility restoring genes.In four years of trials conducted between 1974 and 1977, only three F1 hybrids out of a total of 168 yielded significantly more than the control variety 'Maris Huntsman', which currently occupies a substantial proportion of the area planted with winter wheat in the UK. Because of the rapid increase in yield of conventional wheat varieties, which has already led to varieties which outyielded 'Maris Huntsman', the yield advantage of these F1 hybrids is insufficient for them to be developed as commercial varieties.The efficient production of uncontaminated male sterile and F1 seed presents problems of isolation and a difficult biological problem in increasing the cross breeding potential of maintainer and restorer lines. These together with selection for other parental characters such as restoration, short straw and resistance to sprouting make the development of F1 hybrids more difficult and expensive than that of conventional varieties.