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Visual Selection for Yielding Ability of F 3 Lines in a Hard Red Spring Wheat Breeding Program 1
Author(s) -
Briggs K. G.,
Shebeski L. H.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1970.0011183x001000040026x
Subject(s) - selection (genetic algorithm) , biology , spring (device) , breeding program , yield (engineering) , plant breeding , agronomy , artificial intelligence , computer science , cultivar , materials science , engineering , metallurgy , mechanical engineering
The ability of fourteen plant breeders to visually select the highest yielding plots from a spring wheat ( Triticum aestivum L. era. Thell.) nursery containing 828 F 3 lines was compared with results obtained by random selection. When a positive selection pressure of 10% was applied a significant improvement in yield over random selection was obtained. Conditions for effective visual selection were optimal in this study with the use of triple row, rod length plots with controls adjacent to each one. Despite these aids, and despite the general effectiveness of visual selection to improve yields, individual selectors demonstrated a rather limited ability to identify the actual highest yielding plots in the nursery. These results support the view that when visual selection is used as a means of screening lines in a plant breeding program the intensity of selection should be relatively low.