Effectiveness of two methods of early generation selection for protein content in durum wheat
Wheat breeders must maintain or increase grain protein content (%) while simultaneously increasing grain yield. More rapid methods of determining protein content are required to successfully select for this trait in early generations when the frequency of desirable genotypes is greatest. Therefore, the effectiveness of two methods of early generation selection for protein content was studied in three durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) crosses. For the first method (ISDM), bulked seed from F2 plants was imbibed in water for 7 d at 0–2 °C, and separated with a sucrose-NaCl solution into low and high density fractions for high (HP) and low (LP) protein content selection groups, respectively. The second method (NIRM) used near infrared reflectance data from F3 lines grown in replicated hill plots to establish HP and LP. A random (RP) selection group was also established for each method. The F2 spaced plants and F3 hill plots were grown at Glenlea in 1984. Selection groups were evaluated in F5 at Glenlea and Winnipeg in 1985 using replicated hill plots for ISDM, and hill and four-row plots for NIRM. Overall, response to selection as determined in F5 ranged from 0 to 0.4% unit protein content. HP had significantly higher protein content than LP in one, one and three of six cross locations for ISDM hill, NIRM hill and NIRM row plots, respectively. Although generally intermediate, RP seldom differed significantly from HP or LP. Low response to selection was probably due to genotype × environment interactions resulting from contrasting and unfavorable conditions during the grain filling period in 1984 and 1985. Heritability in standard units for protein content using F3-F5 correlations ranged from 20 to 57% and 11 to 37% for NIRM row and hill plots, respectively. It was concluded that, under the conditions of this study, response to selection was too low for either method to justify the effort required to select for protein content in early generations. Key words: Selection methods, near infrared reflectance, imbibed seed density, protein content, heritability, Triticum turgidum L. var durum