Selection indices in Bread Wheat [Triticum aestivum L.]

Abstract

The discriminant-function technique was used to construct selection indices in 52 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).Sixty-three selection indices involving grain yield per plant and its five components were constructed using discriminant function technique. In general, the more the number of characters included in a selection index, the better was its performance.The index based on five characters viz.,grain yield per plant, 100-grain weight, days to maturity, harvest index and number of effective tillers per plant which had highest genetic advance and relative efficiency of 155.77g and 1867.41%, respectively followed by an index based onfive characters i.e. grain yield per plant, biological yield per plant, 100-grain weight, days to maturity, harvest index which possessed genetic gain and relative efficiency of 53.85g and1856.78% respectively. The use of both these indices is advocated for selecting high yielding genotypes ofbread wheat.