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Evaluation of a durum wheat selection scheme under Mediterranean conditions: adjusting trial locations and replications

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Abstract

The effectiveness of a cultivar evaluation scheme is impeded by the cost of experimentation. The aim of this study was to explore whether the locations employed in durum wheat evaluation program in Greece constituted a mega-environment (ME) and to adjust the number of trial replications and locations for realizing an optimum heritability (H) of 0.75. The analysis was conducted for grain yield (GY), agronomic and quality parameters in a 10-year (2002–2011) dataset and included a variable across years, number of genotypes and locations. The GGE biplot analyses revealed that trial locations can be considered as a single, complex ME. The existence of the ME was also confirmed by the high H across locations. The number of replications and locations for realizing an optimum H for GY was five replications compared to the four currently used, and five locations in lieu of 3–4 now tested. Plant height in March, final plant height and days to heading required three replications and four locations, winter frost three and five, powdery mildew three and seven, stem rust five and nine, whereas lodging 10 replications and 10 locations, respectively. Regarding quality, thousand-kernel weight required four replications and three locations, whereas vitreous kernel percentage six and eight, grain protein concentration four and seven, black point percentage 17 replications and was of zero H across locations. Finally, for the traits assessed only across locations, ash content required seven, wet gluten content five while gluten index and β-carotene three locations.

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Abbreviations

Ash:

Grain ash concentration

BP:

Black point percentage

Carot:

β-Carotene content

DtH:

Days to heading

FPH:

Final plant height

G:

Genotype

GEI:

Genotype × environment interaction

GEI/Gratio :

Sum of squares ratio

GGE biplot:

Genotype and genotype × environment biplot

GI:

Gluten index

G × L:

Genotype × location

GY:

Grain yield

H:

Heritability

Ha :

Heritability across locations

Hw :

Heritability within a trial

L:

Location

Lodg:

Lodging percentage

ME:

Mega-environment

MPH:

Plant height in March

Nl :

Number of locations

NlH75 :

Number of locations to realize H = 0.75

Nr :

Number of replications

NrH75 :

Number of replications to realize H = 0.75

PC:

Grain protein concentration

PM:

Powdery mildew

SR:

Stem rust

SumE :

Sum of squares for E

SumGEI :

Sum of squares for GEI

SSTRMT :

Treatment sum of squares

TKW:

Thousand-kernel weight

VK:

Vitreous kernel percentage

WG:

Wet gluten content

WF:

Winter frost

Y:

Year

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Industrial and Fodder Plants, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-”Demeter”, 413 35, Larissa, Greece

    Demetrios Baxevanos

  2. Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-”Demeter”, 570 01, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Evangelos Korpetis & Maria Irakli

  3. Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis Τ. Tsialtas

Authors
  1. Demetrios Baxevanos
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  2. Evangelos Korpetis
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  3. Maria Irakli
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  4. Ioannis Τ. Tsialtas
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Correspondence to Demetrios Baxevanos.

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Baxevanos, D., Korpetis, E., Irakli, M. et al. Evaluation of a durum wheat selection scheme under Mediterranean conditions: adjusting trial locations and replications. Euphytica 213, 82 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-017-1871-y

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