GENETIC STUDIES ON KERNEL HARDNESS IN WHEAT USING GRINDING TIME AND NEAR INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract

Kernel hardness was measured in 600 random lines from five crosses and in seven control cultivars of spring wheat grown in 2 yr, using grinding time and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Both methods clearly differentiated soft from hard cultivars. Grinding time was the more accurate method because it gave lower coefficients of variation and higher correlations between years but it required five times more grain. The parents of the five crosses represented a range in hardness and were themselves from the cross Opal (hard) × Pitic 62 (soft). A hard × hard cross gave only hard lines; a medium × soft cross gave mostly soft; three soft or medium × hard crosses gave a wide range of hardness types that in two crosses suggested a single gene difference between hard and soft. Heritability of grinding time in standard units ranged from 55 to 92% per progeny and on average was 10% greater for soft lines than for hard.Key words: Wheat, kernel hardness, grinding time, Technicon InfraAlyzer, genetics