Variability of plant height and spike characteristics of durum wheat growing in organic productions

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate phenotypic variability of yield components for seven different durum wheat genotypes (Windur, Žitka, KG Olimpik, KG-28-6, KG-3405-03, KG-43- 33-1, and KG-44-3-1), which were grown during two years (2012/2013 and 2013/2014) at certified organic trial located in Mršinci, the Municipality of Čačak, Serbia. The field experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with three replications with plot of 5 m² on the soil belonging to the loamy clay type. Experiment was carried out by the organic technology of farming production of durum wheat. For analysis of plant height and spike characteristics, 60 plants in full maturity stage were used (20 plants per replication). The primary tiller of plant was used for analyzed plant height, spike length and number of spikelets per spike. Plant height, on average, ranged from 76.0 cm (Olimpik) to 92.1 cm (KG-3405-03), spike length from 6.9 cm (KG-44-3/1) to 8.2 cm (Windur) and number of spikelets per spike from 19.3 (Žitka) to 22.5 (Windur). Variability for plant height was similar for both of years (CV=3.6%, 3.9%, respectively), but for spike length (CV=5.5%, 6.6%, respectively) and for number of spikelets per spike (CV=5.4%, 6.2%, respectively) was lower in the first than in the second year. Through variance analysis, a highly significant difference in mean values for all investigated components was established. Phenotypic analysis of variance indicated that ecological factors had higher impact in relations to genetic factors on expression of all three investigated traits.