Genetic Variability And Heritability Studies In Relation To Grain Yield And Its Component Traits In Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.)

In crop improvement and varietal development programme, diversity is the pre-requisite to achieve the desirable recombinants in segregating generations. The present study was aimed to assess the genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in Triticum aestivum L. The experiment was conducted at Crop Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (U.P.) during Rabi 2010-11. The forty nine genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications. The data on 12 agro-morphological characters viz; days to 50% flowering, plant height, peduncle length, number of productive tillers/plant, days to maturity, spike length, number of spikelets/spike, number of grains/spike, 1000-grain weight, biological yield/plant, grain yield/plant, harvest index and one quality trait like gluten content. Highly significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed for all characters which illustrated significant variation. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent mean were revealed for days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of spikelets/spike, number of grains/spike, 1000 grain weight, biological yield/plant and grain yield/plant which offered the evidence that these characters were under the control of additive gene action which will be more useful in predicting the gain under selection than heritability alone. The characters peduncle length and harvest index exhibited high heritability along with low genetic advance suggested predominance of non-additive gene action hence; direct selection for such characters would mislead the expected result. Hence, it was observed that adequate scope of genetic variability exist for the selection of superior genotypes, which can be utilized in future breeding programs.