Discriminating of Some Early Maturing Wheat Genotypes under Late Sowing in North Delta of Egypt

Present study work has been undertaken to evaluate the productivity and quality of early maturity wheat genotypes under optimum and late sowing conditions. For this purpose, two field experiments were conducted on the experimental farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Field Crop Res. Inst., ARC, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the two winter growing seasons of 2019/20 and 2020/21. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications to study the influence of two sowing dates on earliness, yield, and its components and quality characters of 22 early maturing beard wheat genotypes and two check cultivars (Misr 3 and Sakha 95) were studied. Each sowing date was sown in a separate experiment; the first experiment was planted on 23rd Nov. (optimum sowing date), while, the second one was on 23rd Dec. (late sowing date) in both seasons. Results indicated that optimum sowing date had significantly higher mean values for all studied characters except grain protein, wet gluten, dry gluten, and grain ash. Sakha 95 was the highest grain yield under the two sowing dates without significant differences from Line-2, Misr 3, and Line-5 under the optimum sowing date, and Line-4, Line-5, Line-2, Misr 3, Line-18, and Line-17 under late sowing date. Discriminant analysis results indicated that growing degree days played the most dominant discriminatory role in explaining the variation of the 24 wheat genotypes. Also, it could be effective in the identification of the wheat genotypes of desirable traits for late sowing date conditions. Discriminant scores used as selection index based on earliness, yield, and its components and quality characters were suggested that the superior genotypes under overall both sowing dates were Line-2, Misr 3, and Sakha 95 in addition to Line-17 and Line-5 under late sowing date. These superior genotypes could be used under late sowing date conditions.