Wheat genetic gains for two distinct management schemes in China: An analysis of elite spring type genotypes

The information collected through multi-environment testing of wheat genotypes not only provides basis to identify promising genotypes but also to ascertain their yield potential and the genetic gains. For this purpose, in the presented study, the data originated from the Yunnan provincial Regional Yield Trials (RYT) conducted during 2006 and 2018 was used. During this period, 107 genotypes were evaluated at 18 locations under Upland Wheat (UW) management scheme, while 116 genotypes were evaluated at 21 locations under Field Wheat (FW) management scheme. By adopting standard statistical approaches and through repeated elimination procedures, 7 genotypes emerged as promising for UW and 11 for FW cultivation. These genotypes have genetic variance >1 and 44/33% higher average yield than that of UW/FW genotypes. Most of these promising genotypes were tested during 2016 and 2018 cropping seasons. This indicated a good genetic gain of around 0.7 t/ha in recent years from that of base year. These genotypes, however, needs to be further evaluated in diverse environments suitable for spring type wheat cultivation to ascertain the extent of their interaction with wider environmental conditions and possibility of using in local breeding programs of those target environments.