Evaluation of hybrid wheat yield in Nebraska

For hybrid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to be successful in the Great Plains, good-quality hybrid seed production must be reliable, and hybrid yield must exceed best commercial inbred cultivars (commercial heterosis). This research evaluates hybrid wheat cultivars developed from a full diallel of 26 parents that were planted in an augmented design at three locations in Nebraska in each of two years. The effects of using chemical hybridization were evaluated by testing the parents against hybrids that were created as full-sib crosses and showed no detrimental effects of the chemical hybridization method on the hybrid performance. Maternal effects were tested by comparing the reciprocals for each combination of parents, where it was shown that reciprocal effects were of minor importance. General and specific combining abilities and narrow-sense heritability were obtained and are being used to select parents for future hybrid combinations.