EVALUATION OF AGRO-MORPHOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN BREAD WHEAT GENOTYPES AND FULL DIALLEL HYBRIDS IN THE EARLY SEEDLING STAGE

Abstract

 In bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), optimal agronomic practices and variety performance are crucial for achieving high grain yields. Furthermore, the interaction between physiological and morphological traits in successive phenological periods in wheat determines grain yield per unit area. Several statistical analysis techniques provide the opportunity to identify promising genotypes among the genotypes examined and to evaluate the correlation between the traits together. This contributes to breeders and, therefore, to the sustainability of food production and food security. Present research was conducted to identify important breeding traits in winter bread wheat and to demonstrate the performance of genotypes obtained from hybridization using different statistical and analysis methods (Biplot and scatter plot analysis, PCA). In this study, a total of 12 [4x(4-1)] hybrid combinations obtained from full diallel crosses of four winter bread wheat genotypes (Bayraktar 2000, Sönmez 2001, KRL-213, and KRL-210) were grown under field conditions according to a randomized plot design by three replications. The experiment was terminated when the plants reached the 3-leaf stage (initiation of tillering) to examine some important selection parameters in the early seedling stage. According to the results of the variance analyses, the differences between the genotypes in shoot length, tiller plant^-1, leaf plant^-1, and shoot dry weight were determined to be statistically significant. According to the findings of the present study, it may be concluded that the main parameters related to biomass are decisive in revealing genetic variation. Additionally, results presented that a wide range of genetic variation was observed between F₁ hybrids and their parents, and it was determined that leaf number, shoot length, and dry weight parameters were the key factors in genotype selection.  It has been concluded that the genotypes highlighted in the research findings can be used in various hybridization studies to improve the desired characteristics in terms of sustainability, can be recommended to increase the yield and quality-related parameters that are prominent for bread wheat, and can be evaluated in breeding studies to develop new varieties.