Estimates of Heritability and Association among Traits in Recombinant Inbred Lines of Spring wheat under Normal and Terminal Water Conditions

To estimate heritability and association between traits traits, 148 recombinant inbred lines and their parents (Yecora Rojo and No. 49) were evaluated in Alfa lattice design with two replications under normal and water deficit conditions during two cropping season (2013-15). Results showed that there were significant differences between genotypes for all studied traits. The estimated heritabilities for spikes per square meter, stem weight, biomass, spike length, peduncle length, peduncle weight, shoot length, number of grains per spike and spike weight were in the range of 15.04 to 22.41 and for grain yield, 1000- kernel weight and harvest index were in the range of 25.93 to 26.92, respectively. Under water deficit conditions, estimated heritabilities for spike length, spike weight, shoot length, spike per square meter, biomass, peduncle weight, peduncle length and stem weight were between 13.64 to 19.35 percent and for number of grains per spike, harvest index, thousand kernel weight and grain yield were in the range of 22 to 25.61 percent. The highest genetic gain in both conditions belongs to peduncle weight and harvest index, respectively. Finally based on regression and path analysis traits of number of grains per spike and 1000- kernel weights were identified as the most effective traits on grain yield in both conditions. Therefore, use of harvest index, grain yield, number of grains per spike and grain weight as indicators of selection, probably can provides access to high-yielding lines.