Combining Ability Analysis and Authentication of F1 Hybrids in Wheat

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major food crop in the world and a staple food of Pakistan which plays a remarkable role in meeting the food requirements of the country.Worldwide wheat provides nearly 55% of the carbohydrates and 20 % of the food calories consumed globally. Most of the wheat is growing for human consumption and about 10 % is retained for seed and industry. On the world basis it ranks after rice providing chief protein and caloric requirements for one third of the world population and is consumed in a variety of ways.At present though the production of wheat is increasing gradually but yield is still trailing the average obtained in similar ecologies elsewhere. A significant yield improvement is still possible through the development of high yielding varieties that are adaptable to various agro-climatic conditions. Manipulation of accessions for exploring genotypes with best combining ability and identification of transgrassive segregates by using modern genetic tools is prerequisite for high yielding varieties. Current studies on combining ability and authentication of F1 hybrids provided excellent results in this regard.