Heritability and mode of gene action determination for grain filling rate and relative water content in hexaploid wheat

Mode of gene action, heritability and determination of the effective breeding strategy for improvement of physiological and traits specifically in drought stress conditions is very important. Therefore, this study was conducted by using two drought susceptible and tolerant wheat cultivars. Cultivars Sakha8 (tolerant) and Pishtaz (susceptible) as parents along with F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 generations were sown in a randomized complete block design with three replications in drought stress conditions. Results of analysis of variance indicated significant difference between generations as well as degree of dominance revealed over-dominance for the both traits. Fitting simple additive-dominance model designated that this model was not able to account for changes of traits relative water content and mean of grain filling rate. It was revealed that m-d-h-i-j model for relative water content and m-d-h-i model for mean of grain filling rate are the best models. Estimation of heritability and mode of gene action indicated that selection for improvement of traits studied in stress condition and specifically in early generations have medium genetic gain. In conclusion, grain filling rate is better than relative water content as indirect selection criteria to improve plant grain yield in drought stress condition.