Characterization of Mexican wheat landraces using agronomically useful attributes

In 1992, 465 individual spikes of bread wheat were collected from 24 sites in three states of Mexico. They were examined for 15 morphological, agronom ic and grain quality attributes as part of the routine regeneration process conducted by the CIMMYT Wheat Genetic Resources Program in unreplicated hi ll plots in a screen house. A pattern analysis (combined use of classificat ion and ordination methods) of the data provided a good description of the accessions and the collection sites. Since economically useful attributes w ere used the analysis provided relevant information for both potential user s and the germplasm curators. Potential users have a description of the acc essions from which to choose relevant breeding material and curators can as sess how well the accessions represent the diversity in the collection site s. The analysis would not have been possible if the individual spikes from collection sites were bulked as is the common practice.