In triticale, preharvest sprouting tolerance is important for yield stability and quality of the grain. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to estimate quantitative genetic parameters of preharvest sprouting tolerance in triticale using a diallel of eight modern triticale cultivars and breeding lines. The 28 F₁-hybrids and the parents were planted in the breeding nurseries in 2001 and 2002 at four locations. Heading, plant height, falling numbers of two harvest dates, thousand kernel weight (TKW) and preharvest sprouting (Spr) were measured. The heritabilities for plant height and TKW were the highest with 0.91 and 0.85, respectively. Falling number and sprouting showed heritabilities between 0.66 and 0.83. Mid-parent heterosis (MPHET) was negative for heading, indicating a non-significant earlier heading of the F₁-hybrids. In plant height and TKW the heterosis was positive with 4.7% and 6.3% MPHET. Both falling numbers displayed a negative MPHET of nearly -15%. In contrast to falling numbers, the preharvest sprouting of hybrids was slightly reduced in comparison with the parents. In all traits analysed, general combining ability (GCA)-variances were greater than specific combining ability (SCA)-variances.
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