Phenotypic variability and similarity of number of productive tillers in wheat varieties (Triticum aestivum L.).

Abstract

Number of productive stem tillers influence on crop density, number of fertile spikes which is directly related to grain yield. Aim of this study is estimation variability of productive tillering of wheat varieties grown under different environmental condition. The 50 wheat varieties are included for investigation, during two years (2015-2017) in experiment which was set up as a randomized block design in three replications on the field in Kraljevo, Serbia. Sparse sowing was performed in order to enable the examined plants to fully manifest their traits. Sixty plants at the full maturity stage (20 replication-1 ) were used for analysis of number of tillers. The analysis of variance was performed by MSTAT C (5.0 version). Similarity among wheat was analyzed by hierarchical method of Euclidean distance. The results showed significant differences in number of tillers among varieties in both years, estimated by F-test. In average in the first year the smallest number of tillers 7.57 had Evropa 90 while the highest number of tillers (10.15) had Pobeda variety. In second year, the number of tillers varied from the lowest 8.42 in Evropa 90 to the highest 10.33 in Partizanka and Zastava. The similarity with Euclidean distance illustrated on dendogram contained five clusters in first year and six cluster of varieties in second year. The prominent cluster contains different number and composition of varieties with the highest degree of similarity. The differences in average number of productive tillers were determined by genetic and environmental factor as well as by interaction genotype/environment.