Genetic studies for improvement of spike characters in bread wheat

Five generations each, of the three crosses viz. MACS2496 × Pavon 1 (C1), MACS2496 × Mexico wheat (C2) and Pavon1 × K9644 (C3), were evaluated for spike length (cm), number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike and 1000 grain weight (g). The generations involving P 1 , P 2 , F 1 , F 2 and F 3 were evaluated in a randomized block design. The 5 parameter model suggested by Jinks and Jones (1958) was used for generation mean analysis. Heritability and genetic advance were also estimated. The computation of genetic advance revealed that combinations MACS2496 x Pavon1 and MACS2496 x Mexico wheat were beneficial for the improvement of 1000 grain weight.