Selection mechanisms applied to the kernel size in wheat segregant populations

Abstract

During 1990 and 1991 an experiment was conducted at the Agronomical Experimental Station/UFRGS, Eldorado do Sul (RS), with the aim of determining the efficiency of six selection mechanisms applied on the kernel size, as their indirect effects on other important agronomic traits, in five wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) segregant populations. The results showed that the genetic progress on the kernel size has been relatively easy and directly conditioned to genetic variability in these populations. On the other hand, this character has not been adequate to the indirect selection of other important traits, indicating that indirect artificial selection based only in this character, analyzed only after the harvest, is not a proper system to be used in improvement programs to get genetical progress in wheat segregant populations.