Evaluation of Yield and Yield Components in Bread Wheat Recombinant Inbred Lines Population Derived from a Cross Between Norstar and Zagros Varieties

Wheat is the most important crop plant in Iran and self sufficiency in wheat production is one of the economical and food safety policies in the country. In spite of efforts have been carried out in this area, the mean of wheat yield in Iran is less than its world average. To identify high yielding wheat lines with optimal characteristics and determination of traits to use as selection index, 180 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Norstar (winter wheat) and Zagros (spring wheat) cultivars were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with two replications. During the experiment, grain yield, number of grain per spike, 1000 grain weight, spike length, number of fertile tiller, plant height and winter survival were measured. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the lines for all the studied traits except winter survival and transgressive segregation was observed for grain yield, number of grain per spike, number of spike per m2, plant height and spike length. In path analysis, 1000 grain yield, number of grain per spike and number of spike per m2 with positive direct effects on grain yield determined about 93. 2 درصد of this trait variation. Considering high heritability of these characters compared with grain yield, they could be use as indices in selection of high yielding lines. Based on grain yield per m2, 14 lines were superior to Norstar (high yielding parent). Considering optimal characteristics of these lines, they could be evaluated at multi-environment experiments for selection of high yielding genotypes.