Genetic studies for yield components in interspecific advanced derivatives of durum wheat

An attempt has been made to improve the grain yield and its components in durum wheat through the introgression of genes from related species. The experimental material consisted of BC2F4 progenies generated from crosses of different accessions of T. dicoccum and T. dicoccoides with durum wheat cv. PDW233. Phenotypic coefficients of variability were higher as compared to genotypic coefficients. Total biomass had the highest genetic advance, whereas for number of spikes per plant it was the lowest. Heritability was found to be the highest for days to flowering followed by total biomass and plant height, while it was the lowest for number of spikes per plant. The yield was found to be positively associated with plant height, total biomass, harvest index, number of grains per spike and 1000-grain weight. Plant height was positively associated with total biomass and number of grains per spike. Total biomass was, however, negatively associated with harvest index. Progenies showing advantages for yield and other characters over the recurrent parent were identified for their further use in breeding programme.