Evaluation of some durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes and the estimation of some genetic parameters for their quantitative traits.

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during the 2017-2018 season, with the aim of determining the best genotypes of durum wheat under the conditions of Salah Al-deen Governorate, Iraq and selecting the best of them for the purpose of benefiting from it in genetic improvement programs. The experiment included eleven genotypes of durum wheat (DW36, DW30, DW7, DW17, DW45, DW38, DW26, DW10, DW15, DW47 and DW22) in addition to the approved cultivar "Baghdad". The genotypes were distributed according to the design of randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications, and studied the characteristics of the number of days from planting until heading, plant height, leaf area, number of spikes per plant, number of grains per spike, weight of 1000 grains and the yield of the individual plant. Significant differences were observed between the genotypes of all the studied traits except for the number of spikes per plant. The genotype DW36 was superior in the characteristics of leaf area (2612 cm2), number of grains per spike (67 grains) and the yield of the individual plant (29.6 g), and DW7 genotype was superior in the number of spikes per plant (15 spikes) and the weight of 1000 grains (30.8 g), genotype DW26 was superior in leaf area (2663 cm2), and DW17 genotype was superior in plant height (119 cm). The genetic variance was greater than the environmental variance, and the degree of heritability in the broad sense was high, in addition to that the coefficients of genetic and phenotypic variation were inseparable for most of the studied traits, and therefore they can be used as selection criteria for improving productivity in durum wheat and considering them as promising genotypes under the conditions of the region.