Yield potential of elite advanced bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines during the crop season 2019-2020

The objective of this work was to identify bread wheat lines with grain yield potential under two and four complementary irrigation regimes. Twenty two advanced lines from the 1st Preliminary Bread Wheat Yield Trial of the Norman E. Borlaug-INIFAP breeding program, and two check cultivars were sown on December 16, 2019, in beds 5 m long with 0.80 m separation, under an alpha lattice experimental design with three replications. The variables evaluated were: days to flowering, days to physiological maturity, plant height, reaction to leaf rust, and grain yield. The analysis of variance was performed with the statistical package SAS 9.4, and mean comparison by Tukey´s test (p < 0.05). Cultivar CIANO M2018 showed the highest grain yield under two and four complementary irrigations with 7,361 and 7,929 kg ha-1, respectively. Ten lines overcame the average grain yield of regional check cultivar Borlaug 100, but they were not statistically different. Lines with the highest grain yield under four complementary irrigations were sister line  BECARD/FRNCLN//2*BORL14 (CMSS14B01371T-099TOPY-099M-0SY-46M-0WGY) with 7,911 kg ha-1, BAJ#1/ KISKADEE#1/3/SWSR22T.B./2*BLOUK#1//WBLL1*2/KURUKU with 7,825, WBLL1*2/BRAMBLING//TAM200/ TUI/3/VILLAJUAREZF2009/4/2*BORL14 with 7,781, and KINDE*2/4/T.DICOCCONPI94625/AE.SQUARROSA(372) //TUI/CLMS/3/2*PASTOR/5/PFAU/MILAN//TROST/3/PBW65/2*SERI.1B*2/4/ MUNAL#1 with 7,717; while with two irrigations BORL14*2//KACHU/KIRITATI with 7,112, SWSR22T.B.//TACUPETOF2001*2/BRAMBLING/3/2* TACUPETOF2001*2/BRAMBLING/4/BORL14 with 6,983, and WBLL1*2/BRAMBLING//TAM200/TUI/3/ VILLAJUAREZF2009/4/2*BORL14 with 6,978. The average temperature during the study period was 19.0 °C with a maximum of 36.3 °C and a minimum of 1.0 °C; the average relative humidity was 69.0 %; there were 17.0 mm of precipitation, and the number of heat and cold units was 229 and 350, respectively. There was no presence of leaf rust in any of the lines evaluated.