Evaluation of wheat recombinant inbred lines based on morphological and agronomic traits

To identify the high yielding lines with optimal characteristics, 40 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between ‘Norstar’ (winter wheat) and ‘Zagros’ (spring wheat) cultivars were examined using a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2014 at the Research Station of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. The measured characters consisted of peduncle weight, penultimate weight, spike weight, kernels per spikes, biomass, grain yield, 1000 kernel weight, plant height, peduncle length, penultimate length, spike length, harvest index, flag leaf area and straw yield. Significant differences were observed among lines for all the studied traits, except spike weight, flag leaf area and straw yield. Higher genetic diversity was observed among inbred lines with respect to kernels per spike, number of spikes, biomass and straw yield. Peduncle weight, penultimate weight, kernels per spike, number of spikes and 1000 kernel weight had high heritability. The highest genetic gain was obtained for peduncle weight, penultimate weight and kernels per spike. Based on trait means, lines NO 93, 28, 296 and 31 were identified as superior genotypes. Correlation, stepwise regression and path analysis revealed that kernels per spike and number of spikes were more effective components on grain yield. The analyses were carried out using WARD algorithm and standardized data. Cluster analysis was performed based on all traits and lines were classified into four groups. In factor analysis, four first factors explained about 82 percent of total variations.