Indirect selection for grain protein and grain yield in winter wheat

✍ Scribed by M. M. Noaman; G. A. Taylor; J. M. Martin

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 671 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2336
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00038826

✦ Synopsis

Increasing grain protein content is an important wheat breeding goal . Noaman & Taylor (1988b) showed the combination of protein content in the head, peduncle, and flag leaf of winter wheat at heading provided a good estimate for grain protein . The objectives of this research were to apply these results in indirect selection scheme for grain protein improvement and to study the heritability of protein content in these plant parts . Two random winter wheat populations from four parents in double crosses were used in this study . Sixty random F2-derived F5 and F6 lines were grown in randomized complete block design with 3 replicates in two years . Significant differences for grain yield, grain protein, and vegetative protein content were detected among F5 and F6 lines in both populations . Genotypic and phenotypic correlations between grain protein and vegetative protein were significant and in agreement . Estimates of narrow sense heritability of protein content using variance components method ranged from 0 .46 to 0 .94 for leaf 2 and head in population 1, and from 0 .63 to 0 .89 for peduncle and head in population 2 . Correlation coefficients (r) between predicted and observed grain protein ranged from 0 .50 to 0 .88 and from 0 .37 to 0 .84 in populations 1 and 2, respectively . The highest r was obtained from the combination of head, peduncle, and flag leaf protein at heading . Correlation between protein in plant parts and grain yield was small and not significant . The high heritability of vegetative protein at heading allows the identification of genotypes before pollination which are likely to produce high grain protein . Indirect selection for head, peduncle, and flag leaf protein should result in increased grain protein without yield reduction noted in other breeding schemes .