Evaluation of heterosis and heritability of yield and yield components in bread wheat, durum wheat and triticale

Given the increasing demand for food supply due to human population growth and the limited arable land, the role of plant breeding in increasing crop production is evident. Wheat (Triticum spp.) is known as an important food source in the world because of its adaptation to different environments. Triticale (X. Triticosecale Witmack) has high adaptability to biotic and abiotic stresses and is able to produce efficiently even in poorly fertilized soils and low input farming systems. Heterosis is a natural phenomenon that depends on the species and genetic variation and is called the increase in hybrid vigor of parents, which can be explored to increase crop production. Since the exploitation of heterosis is promising in wheat, the employment of putative hybrids for sustainable food supply has potentially increased. Hence, the aim of this study was to estimate heterosis and to evaluate the coefficients of phenotypic and genetic variation as well as heritability estimates.

A total of 79 genotypes including 19 common wheat, 3 durum wheat, 4 triticale along with their 53 F1 hybrids were used, in this study. Morphological traits including yield and yield components viz. plant height, number of spike per plant, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike, 1000 grain weight and grain yield per plant were measured. The heterosis estimates in the studied hybrids were calculated based on the mid-parent and better-parent. After analysis of variance, coefficients of phenotypic variation, coefficients of genetic variation and general heritability were estimated.

The results of analysis of variance showed significant differences among the genotypes for the studied traits. Mean squares of parents versus hybrids were significant for all traits, indicating heterosis in the studied traits. F1 hybrid derived from Long Spike 2 × Sirvan cross had the lowest heterosis compared to the mid-parent and superior parent for plant height. The highest percentage of heterosis for grain yield per plant belonged to the hybrid derived from the cross between Long spike 5 × Roshan. The estimated heterosis for grain yield based on mid-parent value showed a range of 25.34 to –25.41, indicating the high genetic diversity of the parents used to produce the 53 F1 hybrids studied.

Given the genetic diversity observed in this study indicating heterosis in the studied traits as well as high heritability in the traits, the diversity can be explored either by hybrid breeding strategy or advancing segregating generations toward developing new cultivars.