Determining heritability, reliability and stability of grain yield and yield-related components in durum wheat (Triticum durum L.)

H. Chalajour, M. Armion, R. Karimizadeh, M. K. Shefazadeh, M. Mohammadi

Abstract: The major objectives of the study were to (1) evaluate genotypic yield performances of eighteen durum wheat genotypes, (2) determine their reliability and stability parameters and (3) estimate variance components and heritability of yield and yield-related traits. Eighteen durum wheat genotypes were evaluated in two conditions (rainfed and well watered) in Ilam and Gachsaran agricultural research stations of Iran during from 2009 to 2011 to identify patterns of genotype by environment interactions and their stabilities in terms of seed yield and yield-related components. Seed yield and its components are affected by plant genotype and environmental conditions. There were significant differences between genotypes of one or two years at each location for all the traits. Significant differences among years or between conditions were obtained in terms of all traits. Genotypes x environment interactions at all the traits were highly significant. Thus, the stabilities of eighteen durum wheat genotypes were different for all the traits. According to the stability parameters, G6 and G12 genotypes were stable for grain yield. Genotypes, GA//2*CHEN/ ALTAR84 and SHAG_26/SNITAN were considered as having high adaptability to both rainfed and irrigated conditions while OUASERL -1(G5) and OSSL-1/4/MRBSH/3/RABI//GS/CR/5/ HNA (G8) were considered as having low adaptability to both rainfed and irrigated conditions. The estimates of heritability values with limited phenotypic variance definition were 0.006, 0.163, -0.025, 0.396, 0.327, 0.346 and -0.075 for grain yield, plant height, test weight, thousand kernel weight, peduncle length, spike length, and number of grains per spike ranged respectively. The heritability with complete phenotypic variance definition were 0.001, 0.025, -0.006, 0.040, 0.114, 0.164 and -0.024 for the same traits, respectively. Moderate or low heritability values estimated for all the traits showed that family selection method could be used instead of individual selection in the breeding programs for improving grain yield and its components.

Keywords: Durum Wheat; Gachsaran; GE Interaction; Grain Yield; Heritability; Reliability; Stability

Date published: 2019-07-23