Agronomic performance and quality characteristics of tissue culture-derived lines of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar Pavon

The potential of somaclonal variation to contribute genetic variation for w heat improvement has been widely recognized. Thirty selected lines derived from tissue culture of spring bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar P avon were grown in replicated trials at CAEVY, Sonora, northwest Mexico, du ring two production seasons to assess their agronomic performance and quali ty traits. Field evaluation indicated that the tissue culture-derived lines (TCDL) possessed more grains/m(2), spikes/m(2), grains/spike, earlier flow ering date, longer grain-filling period and shorter height than the origina l breeder line Pavon. Laboratory results revealed that 20% of the TCDLs had improved flour protein. In contrast, 1000-grain weight and test weight of the regenerants were inferior to the Pavon parent. No significant differenc e was observed between the mean grain yield of TCDLs and the breeder line. In conclusion, it appears that the variations observed in the study could h ave direct implications in a wheat germplasm enhancement program.