Gene Action of Heading Date, Plant Height, and Other Characters in Two Winter Wheat Crosses1

Abstract

Two winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em thell.) crosses were used in this study to determine the type of gene action involved in the expression of a number of agronomic characters. An unweighted least squares procedure was adopted to analyze means of parents, F1, and first generation backcrosses from each cross. Only additive gene effects were significant for plant height, number of tillers/unit area, and kernel weight, indicating possible improvement of these characters through selection in early generations. Heading date was controlled by genes with additive and dominance effects which indicates that selection for this trait would be more effective if delayed until later generations.