ABSTRACT
Eighteen Mexican semidwarf type and 2 control cultivars: IAC-24 and IAC-370 were evaluated in 6 experiments, using a randomized block experimental design, with four replications, carried out in limed soils and with sprinkler irrigation, in 2003 and 2004, there being each year, 3 experiments at Tatuí, Mococa and Ribeirão Preto, in the State of São Paulo. Grain yield, plant height, resistance to leaf rust, head length, spikelets per spike, grains per spike and spikelet and 100 grain weight, were evaluated. The inbred lines 15 (CAR442/ANA// YACO/3/KAUZ*2/TRAP// KAUZ), 16 (BAV92/STAR), 17 (BAV92/STAR) and 18 (BAV92/PRL) showed good performance at the same time in relation to grain yield and leaf rust resistance. The inbred line 5 (CNDO/R143//ENTE/MEXI/3...) presented high leaf rust resistance associated to heavy grains, had the possibility to be used as genetic sources of these characters in wheat breeding programs. The cultivar IAC-370 showed long heads, the inbred line 13 (EHAL//CHUM18/BAU) exhibited a large number of spikelets per spike and the inbred lines 12 (IA8719*2//KVZ/HD2009) and 18 (BAV92/PRL) presented a large number of grains per spike. The results showed that there was a tendency of the must productive genotypes presented associations with plants exhibiting tall semidwarf type with heavy grains.
KEY WORDS
Triticum aestivum L.; grain yield; plant height; leaf rust; Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici; agronomic characteristics