Increasing grain yield in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) by selection for high spike fertility index

PONTAROLI, ANA CLARA; ALONSO, MARÍA PÍA; MIRABELLA, NADIA ESTEFANIA; PANELO, JUAN SEBASTIÁN; FRANCO, MARÍA FIORELLA; VANZETTI, LEONARDO SEBASTIÁN; LORENZO, MÁXIMO

PLANT BREEDING

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2021

0179-9541

Spike fertility index (SF) has been proposed as a promising selection criterion forincreasing grain yield (GY) in bread wheat. Here, changes in GY and related traitsafter simulated selection (10% intensity) for high SF or high GY per se were assessedin two RIL populations: (I) Avalon/Glupro and (II) Baguette 10/Klein Chajá, and in (III)advanced lines from a breeding programme. Grain yield, SF, grain number per unitarea (GN), grain weight (GW), test weight (TW) and grain protein content (GPC) weredetermined. Regardless of the environmental conditions, simulated selection for highSF always resulted in GN increases (between 1.6% and 27.4%). Average GY increaseobserved after selection for high SF (11.5%; N = 10; SEM = 5.8) did not differ (p = .92)from the average GY increase observed after selection for GY per se (11.8%; N = 10;SEM = 4.9). Grain weight, GPC and TW tended to decrease with selection for highSF; however, these trade-offs might be avoided by concurrent selection. Our findingsvalidate the use of SF as a selection criterion for increasing grain yield in bread wheat.