Evaluation of pure lines extracted from durum wheat collection of cereal department and national gene bank of Iran

One hundred and sixty four durum wheat genotypes selected from previous evaluation of national gene bank of Iran, and cereal research department collection comprises of local durum wheat and some varieties from other countries were studied. The genotypes were evaluated along with four durum checks (Dena, Zardak, VerlNac, and Soisson) for 14 quantitative traits e.g. grain yield, flag leaf length and width, plant height, peduncle length, peduncle extrusion, number of spikelet per spike, number of seeds per spike, etc ... ) in an observation experiment in 2010-2011 at Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran. From each accession 3 single spikes were planted (total of 492 pure lines) in separate line in one row of 0.5m long. The checks were repeated after each 30 lines. Statistical analyses were performed using Excle, SAS, and SPSS statistical packages. Descriptive analysis of data showed presence of a vast genetic variability among the genotypes for the recorded traits. For example, grain yield varied between 6 to 226 gr/0.5m row. Correlation analysis and path coefficient analysis revealed some traits had significant effects on yield. Positive correlation between grain yield and seed number per spike, and seed weight per spike were observed, whereas its correlation with plant height and flag leaf width. Factor analysis summarized the 14 preliminary traits in to 4 factors, accounting about 70.75% of total variation. Cluster analysis was performed using UPGMA method to group the genotypes. The genotypes were grouped in 16 clusters. Considering grain yield as an important economic valued trait, there were some genotypes with higher yield over the checks. Out of 492 samples, genotypes number 487 (TN-127l5) from Khozestan with 25% grain yield over VeelNac check, 495 (TN-1272l) from Ardabil with 19% superiority, 3l3(Kc-308l) from Khorasan with 15% over-yielding the checks, were identified. The Italian genotypes no. 533, 535, 542, 557, and 560, showed superiority about 35%, 51 %, 52%, 25%, and 31 % over the checks. The genotypes no. 539, 549, 556, and 559 were similar to the checks, therefore were selected for further evaluation. The results also indicated that the genetic materials present in the gene banks and the collections are valuable materials which can be used for durum wheat breeding program