Variability and heritability of grain yield and hectoliter mass in wheat

Abstract

In the two-year field experiment (2013/2014 and 2014/2015), the variability of yield and hectoliter grain mass of 14 winter wheat genotypes was examined. The research was conducted in three locations across the Republic of Serbia: Centre for Small Grains in Kragujevac, Institute for forage crops in Kruševac and Agroinstitute in Sombor. Significant differences in grain yield were found between varieties, locations, years and their interactions, while the influence of the location did not show significant differences in hectoliter mass. Grain yield of studied wheat genotypes in 2013/2014 varied from 3.91 t ha-1 (KG-244/4) to 5.55 t ha-1 (KG-60-3/3), and in 2014/2015 from 5.67 t ha-1 (KG-162/7) to 7.08 t ha-1 (KG-27/6). The hectoliter mass also varied, and most often ranged from 72.1 kg hl-1 (KG-28/6) to 77.2 kg hl-1 (KG-191/5-13) in the first experimental year and from 76.7 kg hl-1 (KG-27/6) to 81.9 kg hl-1 (KG-191/5-13) in the second year. Unfavorable weather conditions which prevailed in the first experimental year, conditioned the formation of smaller and shriveled grains. As a result, the examined KG-wheat genotypes gave lower values in grain yield and hectoliter mass in 2013/2014 compared to 2014/2015. In this study, higher values of heritability in a broad sense were obtained for hectoliter mass (73.66%), and lower values for grain yield (25.82%). This indicates that direct breeding for grain yield is less efficient and it is necessary to have knowledge about the nature of the inheritance of important yield components in order to improve this complex trait.