HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY FOR YIELD AND ITS RELATED TRAITS IN BREAD WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.)

Seven bread wheat genotypes were crossed in line × tester making design. The 12 F1’s and their parents were sown at Al-Rashedia Farm, Ninevah, Iraq, in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications during the 2018/2019 growing season. The result showed that remarkable genetic variability was observed for the traits. The hybrid (Kirchanff × Cam-6) had a higher grain yield and average yield component compared to the parents. Kukri line and Cham-6 tester were a good combiner for the number of grains per spike, grain yield and 1,000 kernel weight. (Magenta × Adnanea) and (Kirchanff × Cham-6) showed negative significant heterosis for studied traits. Additive genetic variance was less than dominance variance for all traits followed by a low value of narrow sense heritability supported both additive and non-additive gene.