Inheritance Pattern of Five Yield Related Characters in F2 Wheat Populations

Inheritance mechanism for earliness and yield influencing traits in 8 x 8 F2 half diallel progenies was studied at The University of Agriculture, Peshawar-Pakistan during 2006-07. The experiment was planted in randomized complete block (RCB) design having four replications. Highly significant differences were observed among parental genotypes and their F2 populations for all traits revealing greater genetic variability and thus allowing for further analysis. According to genetic analysis, Vr/Wr graphs indicated over-dominance type of gene action for all traits among parental genotypes and their F2 populations. Traits like days to heading, plant height and spike length were controlled by recessive genes while grains per spike and biological yield were under dominant gene control. Distribution of array points along the regression line indicated that wheat cultivars Takbeer and the landrace Khattakwal possessed maximum dominant and recessive genes, respectively for plant height. However, cultivar Iqbal-2000, Ghaznavi-98, Margalla-99 and Tatara-96 possessed maximum dominant genes for days to heading, spike length, grains per spike and biological yield, respectively.