Genetic Analysis of Physio-morphological Traits in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under Water Stress Conditions

A diallel cross involving six wheat varieties, namely Sehar 06, Punjab 96, GA 2002, Barani 83, Kohistan 97 and Chakwal 86 was carried out to determine the mode of gene action for some physio-morphological traits under water stress conditions. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among genotypes for all the traits studied. Additive type of gene action with partial dominance was observed for flag leaf area, stomatal frequency, leaf venation, days to heading and spike density while 100-grain weight was controlled by over dominance. Additive type of gene actions shows the fruitfulness of early selection for the traits while over dominance type of gene action indicates selection in later generations. Epistasis was absent for all the traits studied.