Parental selection of wheat lines based on phenotypic characterization and genetic diversity

Abstract

Parental selection is an important step in breeding programs, and genetic variability increases the chances of obtaining variance in progenies. The objectives of this study were to phenotype 29 wheat genotypes and determine the genetic variability among them, in order to identify potential parental lines for breeding programs at Embrapa Wheat. For phenotyping, traits such as plant height, cycle and grains characteristics were assessed and the data were analyzed by the Euclidean distance. The genetic distance was estimated using 97 microsatellite molecular markers and the data were analyzed by Nei72 coefficient. The average distance observed for phenotyping was 10.1, and the genetic distance was 31 %. SSR markers were efficient for selecting genetically diverse genotypes despite their phenotypic similarity, and lines PF 9027, PF 950351, PF 030132, PF 979002, PF 040488 and IWT 04019 can be used as parental for future crosses, since they have genetic diversity and suitable agronomic traits.