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Purple Straw Color in Relation to Kernel Weight in Wheat
Author(s) -
Middleton G. K.,
Hebert T. T.
Publication year - 1950
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1950.00021962004200100013x
Subject(s) - agricultural experiment station , straw , citation , mathematics , library science , horticulture , agronomy , agriculture , geography , computer science , archaeology , biology
NFORRIATION concerning any relationship beI tween individual plant characters and yield or other quantiitative characters is of real value to the plant breeder in his selection work. Purple color in corn was found to be associated with low dry weight of ears per plant1 and also with low mean kernel weight.2 Worzella3, however, found no correlation between purple straw color and kernel weight in two wheat crosses which he studied. In the wheat breeding program at the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station a cross was made in 1941 between Purplestraw, C.I. 1915, and Carala, C.I. 12184, for the purpose of studying the relationship between straw color and kernel weight and yield. The two mrietiei are similar in head type, maturity, and yielding ability. Purplestraw, as the name suggests, usually shows a purple pigmentation in the straw. In some seasons the color is better developed than in others. The F2 plants showed a predominance of purple types, while the F, progenies showed 35 purple, 67 segregating, 43 white-strawed lines. Those lines which appeared to be homozygous were bulked into two groups, purple and white, and tested in three subsequent years. For the tests single rod-row plots were used, with 10 replications the first year and 20 in each of the other two. Data on weight per 1000 kernels and on yield per acre are given in Table 1. Thl: data show that in each of the 3 years the purplestrawed types produced kernels which were significantly heavier than were those from the white lines. In 1 year only was a significant yield difference found. Since total plant weight was not taken and no chemical analysis made, no explanation of the results is attempted, but the data are given as a matter of record.