Abstract:
Twenty genotypes of wheat (
Triticum aestivum L.), (including 2 checks) were investigated on sixteen traits during
Rabi 2015-2016 in a randomized block design with three replications at Field Experimentation Center of Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, to study the magnitude of genetic variability parameters for different quantitative characters and to estimate the genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficient which included grain yield and associated characters under late sown conditions. Variability was measured by estimating genotypic and phenotypic variance (GCV and PCV), heritability (h
2bs) and genetic advance for different quantitative traits. The mean sum of squares showed significant differences among all the characters except for flag leaf width. The maximum GCV and PCV was observed for seed yield per plant, followed by biological yield, thousand grain weight, plant height, peduncle length, and flag leaf length. High heritability in broad sense (h
2bs) was recorded for plant height, days to 50 % heading, thousand grain weight, days to 50 % flowering, days of maturity, number of grains per spike, seed yield per plant, grain filling period, peduncle length, harvest index, biological yield, and flag leaf length. High genetic advance was recorded for plant height. Seed yield exhibited positive significant correlation with biological yield, number of spikes per plant, harvest index, spike length, thousand grain weight, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, plant height, peduncle length, number of spikelets per spike and number of grains per spike at both genotypic at phenotypic level. Therefore, above traits should be given due emphasis for future bread wheat genetic improvement due to their high genetic variance, high heritability (h
2bs) coupled with high genetic correlation among themselves which may yield high genetic advance under proper selection pressure in a breeding program.