GENOTYPIC AND PHENOTYPIC CORRELATION AMONG YIELD COMPONENTS IN BREAD WHEAT UNDER NORMAL AND LATE PLANTINGS

Knowledge of genetic and phenotypic association among economic traits helps plant breeders in outlying efficient breeding strategies for development of high yielding wheat cultivars. Two diverse wheat cultivars forming two contrasting groups viz. tall stature with late maturity (cultivar “Fakhre Sarhad”) vs short stature with early maturity (cultivar “Saleem-2000”) were used to develop the F1, F2 and first backcross generations (BC11 and BC12) from their direct and reciprocal crosses during crop seasons of 2005-06 and 2006-07 at Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI), Pirsabak, Nowshera (Pakistan). Significant genetic variation existed among the six generations for various spike and yield related traits of the direct as well as reciprocal crosses both under normal and late planting environments. Significant and positive genetic correlations among yield related traits predominated the phenotypic association for the direct cross Fakhre Sarhad × Saleem-2000 and its reciprocal under both planting conditions. The strong relationship of yield with yield component traits suggested that grain yield potential can be effectively improved by obtaining maximum expression of spike length, spikes plant^-1, number of grains spike^-1, biological yield and harvest index.