Inheritance Of Resistance To Fusarium Head Blight In Six Wheat Cultivars (Triticum Aestivum L.)

To study inheritance of resistance to spread of Fusarium graminearum in spikes of wheat resistance of six spring wheat cultivars (T. aestivum L.) representing different levels of resistance and all possible Fl combinations excluding reciprocals was evaluated with two isolates of F. graminearum. Resistance to spread of the fungus was evaluated in greenhouse by point injection method at anthesis stage. Data for disease spread were collected 28 days after inoculation based on a scals of 0-5. Diallel analysis was performed according to Griffing (method 2, modell) and Hayman and links methods. GCA and SCA effects were significant, but GCA effects were greater than SCA effects. Genetic variance analysis showed strong additive gene action for resistance. Broad sense and narrow sense heritabilities ranged from 0.86-0.89 and 0.59-0.63, respectively. The preponderance of additive genetic variance indicates that considerable progress can be expected from selection.