Effects and relationships of wheat seed size and dimensions upon yield, yield components, test weights and milling yields at different fertility levels, seed rates and environments

The experiments herein reported were conducted at College Station, Chillicothe and McGregor, Texas, with the objectives of determining the relationships of varying seed sizes and shapes in wheat to yield, yield components, test weight and milling yields under different fertility levels and seeding rates. Eighteen and 16 different strains of wheat were included in the variety comparisons in the years 1965 and 1966, respectively, at College Station. Favorable growing conditions in 1966 resulted in good yields and quality of grain. The higher fertility level did not show any significant increase over normal fertility, except in number of culms and number of kernels per spike. Varieties of different seed sizes differed significantly amongst themselves for all the yield character measurements, and it has been observed that the varietal differences were greater than the influences of seed size and shape. Correlations among yield components were high and are statistically highly significant. Kernel dimensions, number of culms per spike and 500 seed weight were highly correlated with yield. The same trends were observed in the test at Chillicothe. Though none of the characters measured were significantly correlated with test weight, there was some association with factors determining yield and an indication pointing to higher test weight for shorter and plumper kernels. ..