Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
1. Selections from a cross of varieties of Triticum vulgare and T. Turgidum have been backcrossed repeatedly to the turgidum and vulgare parents and selections of turgidum and vulgare type respectively made within each series.
2. The yield and morphological stability of turgidum- and vulgare-type selections from the straight cross have been compared with those of selections backcrossed up to four times to T. turgidum and T. vulgare respectively.
3. In the case of backcrosses to T. Turgidum the highest yielding selections have been derived from the most frequently backcrossed material, but the vulgare-type selections from the straight cross have outyielded those from the material backcrossed to T. vulgare.
4. An analysis of the yield components of the parents and of the most promising selections, in terms of ears per plant, spikelets per ear, grains per spikelet and 1000-grain weight, has shown no evidence of a combination of the characters determining the high yield of the parents in these high yielding selections.