Combining ability analysis for harvest index in winter wheat

Abstract

Cereal breeders have used harvest index (HI) as a selection criterion in segregating generations to identify physiologically superior lines with improved partitioning of total assimilate into grain. Information on combining ability for HI of the hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars of the Southern Great Plains is not available. A study was undertaken to examine HI of seven genetically diverse winter wheat parents, evaluate their general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects, and study correlations of HI with several agronomic traits. The seven parents were crossed in a half-diallel mating design to produce 21 crosses. The F1's, their F2 progenies, and the parents were evaluated in replicated field tests at Stillwater and at Lahoma, OK. The combining ability analysis was performed using Griffing's Method 4, Model 1. The results showed significant variation among parents for HI. The GCA and the SCA effects were mostly inconsistent between generations and between environments. However, parents with consistently high HI and positive GCA estimates were identified. The progeny with high HI mostly resulted from parents with high GCA estimates. The correlations between HI and agronomic traits indicated that improvement in HI should also result in high grain yield, early maturity, and short plant height.