Selection indices for grain yield improvement in durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.]

Abstract

Wheat is the staple food for a large part of the world population including India with 31.45 million hectares of land 107.59 million metric tonnes production and 3421 kg per hectare productivity. While Gujarat, accounted for 1.02 million hectares of land, 3.21 million metric tonnes of production and 3155 kg per hectare of productivity (Anon., 2020). It is now well recognized that grain yield is a complex polygenic character and depends upon the action and interaction of a number of factors. It is felt that progress can be accelerated if simultaneous selection for most of the economic characters contributing to grain yield is considered. For this purpose, the utilization of an appropriate multiple selection criteria based on the selection indices would be more desirable. An application of discriminant function developed by Fisher (1936) and first applied by Smith (1936) helps to identify important combination of yield components useful for selection by formulating suitable selection indices. Therefore, the object of the present study was to construct and assesses the efficiency of selection indices in durum wheat. Materials & MethodsThe experimental material consisted of 40 diverse genotypes of durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn]. The pure seeds of these genotypes were obtained from the Wheat Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. Application of discriminant function as a basis for making selection on several characters simultaneously is aimed at discriminating the desirable genotypes from undesirable ones on the basis of their phenotypic performance. The concept of selection index was first proposed by Smith (1936) on the basis of discriminant function of Fisher (1936). The model suggested by Robinson