Effects of reduced plant height on breeding requirements and ...

<strong>of</strong> other chãracteristics in rn¡heat.
t orre lati ons
Altering an existing character, or bringing a new orre
into a breeding population imrnediately raises the question
<strong>of</strong> how it will affect other important characteri stic s " l\¡i11
there be any undesirable character associations? Reduced
<strong>plant</strong> <strong>height</strong> is such a parameter and many investigators have
reported its relationship to several agronomic and quality
characteristic s .
Plant <strong>height</strong> has been positively associated vrith yield
in barley (Fiuzat and Atkins, 1953; Sharrna, Lg?O ¡ Duwayri,
I)14 and Konishi, 1976), ín wheat (Johnson et al., L966(a),
Shahs, 1967¡ Fonseca and Patterson, 1p6B; Borojevic, 196B;
Kaufmann et al., 1969¡ Barriga, L974¡ Ðyck and Baker, 1975),
and in oats (Wallace gL 4, 1954¡ ?etr, 1959). KÍesselbach
et al., (1953), and Rutger et aI., (196?), both reported no
association ín barley as did Pepe and Heiner (19?5) with
wheat. Nasr gq aL (I9?3) reported no correlatÍon between
<strong>height</strong> and yield in six <strong>of</strong> seven barley crosses, and a
positive relationship in the other cross. fn wheat, Hamblin
and Donald (f9?l+) reported a positive association in material
at F3, but found no relationship in the same material at F5
under high nitrogen conditions. In fact the correlation was
negative but not significant.
McNeal et al. (Lg74) working with improved adapted semi-
dwarf wheats reported a negative correlation <strong>of</strong> <strong>plant</strong> <strong>height</strong>
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