ABSTRACT
Progenies from a cross between two spring wheat lines were selected for seed dormancy by using a simple germination test in petri dishes. Hand-threshed grains were germinated at room temperature for three days on filter paper wetted with distilled water. The germination test was combined with selection for other important agronomical traits, both from field observations and from chemical analysis of grain quality.
Improvements were found in seed dormancy and in alpha-amylase activity already after one selection step. Most of the selected progeny lines in F4, which all exhibited acceptable plant height, earliness and grain quality, had a deeper dormancy than any of their parents. This indicates the possibility to achieve transgressive combinations with respect to this characteristic. Selection by using germination tests can be useful in handling a large amount of material in the early generations of the breeding process, as a supplement to other methods to improve sprouting and malting resistance in spring wheat.
