Evaluation of Yield Potentialities of Oat Crosses From Bulk Hybrid Tests¹

The estimation of cross yield using early generation and parental yields in dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

“…It is fully recognised that pests and diseases may cause severe losses in certain areas, seasons or genotypes. These losses may seriously confound the results obtained, so that there is little correlation over generations and years for the yields of the crosses, for example ATKINS & MURPHY (1949) suffered an attack of Helminthosporium victoriae in their oats and FOWLER & HEYNE (1955) suffered from both soil borne mosaic and very localised drought in their wheat experiments. Varieties or crosses that are genetically low yielding, but which have a measure of resistance to pests and diseases, as might occur in wild, weedy or primitive types, may perform better in stress situations than varieties or crosses of high yield potential but no resistance.…”

Evaluation of Early Generation Testing in Peanuts1

“…Smith and Lambert (12) reported that performance of parents and early generation bulks of their crosses was reliable in predicting the yield of F 5 lines of spring barley. However, Fowler and Heyne (4) working with wheat, Atkins and Murphy (2) with oats, and Weiss, Weber, and Kalton (13) with soybeans questioned the predictive value of F 2 and Fa generation tests. Allard (1) reviewed early generation test results and concluded that selection for yield among crosses could be made in early generations but selection of lines within a cross could not be made in early generations.…”

The efficiency of some selection methods in populations resulting from crosses between self-fertilizing plants

“…Because of the gene interaction mentioned, the cultural value (phenotype) of a heterozygous plant is not a reliable guide to the value of the lines which may be derived from it . In fact plants that might segregate valuable gene combinations after selfing, could easily get lost, if plants, dominant or intermediate for some detrimental genes, are eliminated from highly heterozygous populations by means of phenotypic selections (1,4,9) . 3 …”