Crosses were made involving the standard tall cultivar IAC-227 ( P1 ) with four short Mexican lines: CMH 78.390/CMH 77A.917//CMH 79.215 (P2), CMH 79.959/2* CNO 79 (P3), CMH 79.481/CMH 77A.917 (P4) and CMH 80A.747 (P5). Parents, F1 s , F2 s and reciprocal backcrosses were evaluated for grain yield, number of spikes per plant, number of spikelets per spike and number of grains per spikelet in an experiment using pots, under a screen house conditions at Experimental Center of Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Values of medium to high narrow sense heritability for: (1) Number of spikelets per spike (0.582 to 0.756) with exception of crosses P1 x P2 (0.244) suggested that selection for this trait would be effective in early generations; (2) Number of spikes per plants (0.157 to 0.547); (3) Number of grains per spikelet (0.225 to 0.327), with exception of the hybrid P1 x P2 (0.604) and (4) Grain yield (0.421 to 0.550) suggested that selections for these characteristics could be postponed to more advanced generations. The phenotypic correlation values showed a possibility of selecting progenies simultaneously with high yield potential expressed by large number of spikes per plant, spikelets per spike and grain per spikelet (except for the cross P1 x P3). However, large segregating populations should be used to identify desired genotypes originated from eventual recombinations.
wheat; heritability; correlations; spike length; spikelets per spike; grains per spikelet; grains yield
