Grain yield and agronomic characteristics of Romanian bread wheat varieties under the conditions of Northwestern Turkey

In this study, fourteen bread wheat varieties, twelve of which were introduced into Turkey from Romania, were evaluated for grain yield and seven agronomic properties in Biga, Canakkale in northwest part of Turkey in 2005 - 2006 and 2006 - 2007 growing seasons. The objectives of the research, carried out in a completely randomized block design with 3 replicates, were to investigate Romanian wheat varieties, to study the associations between yield and yield components, and to determine the most promising varieties suitable to Biga conditions. Based on a two-year data, all the characteristics examined showed significant difference ( P < 0.05) and varied with a wide range in grain yield (344.0 - 475.5 kg da(-1)), plant height (78.1 - 103.3 cm), spike length (9.2 - 16.4 cm), number of spikelets (15.3 - 19.3 number), number of grains per spike (35.7 - 43.3 number), grain weight per spike (1.25 - 1.73 g), harvest index (34.2 - 43.8%) and 1000 grain weight (35.2 - 47.8 g). Except for harvest index, genotype x year interactions (GxY) was found to be significant for all the traits studied. Correlation coefficient analyses showed that the grain yield had positive and significant associations with plant height (r = 0.416***), grain weight per spike (r = 0.345**), number of grain per spike ( r = 0.220*) and 1000 grain weight (r = 0.388***). Consequently, new bread wheat varieties, Joseph followed by Dumbrava and Trivale, from Romania gave rise to higher yield compared to the local varieties.