Heterosis for yield and its components in bread wheat crosses among powdery mildew resistant and susceptible genotypes

The objective of this research was to investigate heterotic effects between five powdery mildew resistant wheat lines derived from CIMMYT and three susceptible commercial wheat varieties growing in Turkey and to determine mode of gene actions of the parents for yield characters in F1 generation. All 15 F1 crosses and their parents were planted in randomized complete block design in three replications. Measurements were done for plant height, pike length, spike let and kernel number per spike, grain weight per spike and 1000-kernel weight. Promising findings of the crosses 72 x Golia, 70 x Golia, 70 x Basribey, 48 x Basribey, 48 x Atilla-12 and 72 x Atilla12 were obtained to breed new varieties or pure lines having shorter plant height and taller spike length, more number of spike let and kernel per spike, besides higher grain yield than their mid or better parents to improve powdery mildew resistant varieties. (author)