Vol. 12, Issue 5 (2023)

Author(s):
Sanjeev Sharma, MK Tripathi, Sushma Tiwari, RS Solanki, Shailja Chauhan, Niraj Tripathi, Namrata Dwivedi and Prakash Narayan Tiwari

Abstract:
Wheat is a crop that is grown in a range of ecosystems and has a big importance globally. It is an important cool-climate cereal crop with a crucial role to play in the world's food and nutritional security. The polygenic system that controls yield is greatly influenced by environmental changes. Hence, choosing a plant simply based on its yield would often not be particularly reliable. The discriminant-function technique was used to construct selection indices in 102 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Eight characters were employed to formulate selection indices between grain yield and its attributing characters. Ninety-two selection indices were made between these eight characters ranging from single character-based selection indices to eight character-based selection indices. Out of these eight characters, five were found to have significant positive correlation at both genotypic and phenotypic levels with grain yield and six characters were found to have positive direct effect on grain yield genotypically as well as phenotypically. The preferential use of numbers of productive tillers/plants, spike length, weight of spike, numbers of grains/spike, weight of grains/spike and biological yield/plant are suggested over grain yield alone for the effective and fruitful multiple character combinations based indirect selection for the desired yield improvement in wheat.