Summary
Three intensities of mass honeycomb selection (14.3,5.3 and 1.6%) applied to an unselected rye population gave respectively an annual yield response of 0.28, -3.69 and -5.20% at 15 cm spacing, and of 4.07, 5.39 and 8.99% at 90 cm spacing. The negative response with competition was explained by strong negative correlation between competing and yielding ability which causes positive skewness because of transposition of low yielders and strong competitors from the left to the right tail of the distribution. The positive response in the absence of competition was mainly due to the increased genotypic differentiation which allowed effective discrimination between high and low yielding genotypes. The efficiency of the selection in the absence of competition was further improved by using the honeycomb designs which adjust soil heterogeneity and application of very high family and individual selection pressures.
Two cycles of mass honeycomb selection increased the population yield by 29.4%, one cycle of mass plus one cycle of pedigree honeycomb selection did so by 34.5%. The results are discussed in relation to the selection response and to the efficiency of various breeding schemes.
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Kyriakou, D.T., Fasoulas, A.C. Effects of competition and selection pressure on yield response in winter rye (Secale cereale L.). Euphytica 34, 883–895 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00035428
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00035428