Variability, heritability and genetic advance for quantitative characters in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Thirteen diverse wheat lines were crossed with three well adapted varieties as testers in a line X tester design. Thirty-nine F1‘s and 16 parental lines were evaluated in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Observations were recorded on ten quantitative traits viz. days to heading, days to maturity, plant height, tillers per plant, spike length, grains per ear, 1000-grain weight, biological yield per plant, grain yield per plant and harvest index. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for all ten characters studied. All the characters exhibited high heritability except plant height and grains per ear. Biological yield per plant, tillers per plant and grain yield per plant had high heritability coupled with high genetic advance thereby indicating that selection for these characters would be effective.