Relationship among Coleoptile Length, Plant Height and Tillering Capacity for Developing Improved Wheat Varieties

Semi-dwarf wheat varieties developed after green revolution are highly responsive to management and have potential to produce high yield. However, this potential is not achieved in fields, because of poor seedling vigour. Coleoptile length plays an important role in seedling vigour but it was reported as positively associated with plant height in different sets of genotypes. This positive correlation of coleoptile length with plant height makes the simultaneous selection for long coleoptile and reduced plant height impossible. A panel of 300 genotypes including several Pakistani and CIMMYT germplasm accessions were investigated for correlation, heritability and genetic advance for coleoptile length, plant height and tillering capacity. Although the genetic variation found in coleoptile length and plant height was highly significant (P<0.01), the coleoptile length was not related to variation in plant height (r=-0.034(NS)). High estimates of heritability and genetic advance were found for coleoptile length and plant height (86 & 80% & 4.26 & 11.28, respectively). (C) 2011 Friends Science Publishers