A selection procedure in wheat for stress environment

Summary A simple and effective selection procedure for identifying lines with wide adaptation and ability to do well under drought is outlined, supported with experimental data involving diverse and high yielding populations of bread wheat.The effect of selections for local adaptation to stress environment is found to be inferior as compared to selection for developmental traits in a favourable environment. Data on selection for developmental traits have shown favourable correlated associations with more precision in the estimate of components of genetic variation and heritability and larger magnitude of response to selection as compared to selection for yield components in stress environment.The developmental characters such as early vigour and synchronous tillering, days to heading and ear length which show stability over different environments are found to be important components of wide adaptation and productivity under moisture-stress.Presented at the Symposium on Planning for the Drought of the National Institute of Sciences, held in New Delhi, India, 4–6 May, 1969.