Combining ability of wheat parents in two generations

Abstract

The objective of this study were to estimate the general ability and specific combining ability in ten wheat genotypes in two generations (F1 and F2) to indicate parents and hybrid combinations that are promising to achieve new favorable combinations. Ten wheat genotypes were hybridized in a complete diallel, without reciprocals, totaling 45 hybrid combinations. F1 hybrids and the F2 populations and parents were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replicates in spaced plant. The effect of general combining ability (GCA) was greater than specific combining ability (SCA) in both generations, regardless of the characters evaluated. The best performances of the CGC to grain yield per plant (GYP), number of kernels per spike (NKS), number of spikes per plant (NSP) and plant height (PH) were observed for the parents Fundacep 50, Pampeano, BRS Figueira and UTF 0605, respectively. Promising hybrid combinations (high magnitude of SCA in both generations and high average for the character and at least one parent presenting desirable GCA) were selected. The association of GCA with the performance of characters GYP (F1 = F2 = 0.75 and 0.81), NKS (F1 = F2 = 0.61 and 0.60) and PH (F1=0.99 and F2= 0.98) showed to be a reliable criterion for choice of parents, regardless of generation evaluated.

Keywords

• Triticum aestivum L.; Diallel analysis; General combining ability; Specific combining ability