ABSTRACT
Three field experiments were carried out during 1991, 1992 and 1993 rainy seasons at Gembu (6° 55′ N, 10° 38′ E and 1,500 m above sea level) on Mambilla Plateau, Nigeria to study the performance of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and durum wheat {Triticum durum Desf.) under rainfed conditions. The treatments consisted of 121 wheat lines/varieties (88 bread and 33 durum wheats) laid out in a 11 x 11 simple lattice design with two replications. Height in durum wheat ranged between 70.9 and 87.8 cm while in bread wheat, it was between 65.3 and 109.1 cm. Mean tiller number was 22 percent higher in bread wheat compared with durum wheat across the years. Within durum wheat total tillers ranged between 207 and 625 whereas among bread wheat, it was 251 and 751 across the years. Flowering was four days earlier in bread wheat than durum wheat when averaged over the three years. Among durum wheat flowering ranged between 57 and 99 days, while in bread wheat, it was 56 and 84 days. Maturity was four days earlier in bread wheat than in durum wheat. Within durum wheat entries, maturity period differed within the years and averaged over the three years ranged between 92 and 126 days whereas in bread wheat it was 90 and 119 days. Mean number of spikes/m2 in durum wheat ranged between 152 and 467 spikes/m2 while in bread wheat, it was 146 and 730. Number of seeds/spike in durum wheat ranged between 20 and 33 seeds/spike whereas in bread wheat, it was between 21 and 36. Bread wheat produced significantly more number of seeds/spike than durum wheat. In both wheat species, the weight of 1000 seeds was statistically similar and in durum wheat, it ranged between 25.7 and 32.6 g while in bread wheat it was 21.7 to 36.4 g. The mean grain yield of bread wheat was 46.0 percent higher than durum wheat with the highest grain yield of 2,055 kg/ha recorded by CIRUNBGRES in durum wheat while in bread wheat Veery ‘S’ CM330297 – PCBWH1931 gave the highest grain yield of 3711 kg/ha. In both durum and bread wheat, grain yield had positive and high significant correlations with number of spikes/m2, number of seeds/spike and 1000-seed weight. Number of spikes/m2 had the highest direct effect on grain yield in all the seasons in both durum and bread Viii wheat varieties. In the seed samples, moisture content ranged from 6.7 to 8.0 percent in durum wheat, while in bread wheat, it was 6.4 to 8.6 percent. Protein content in durum wheat was between 14.6 and 18.2 percent whereas in bread wheat, it was between 13.5 and 18.2 percent. In the experimentally milled flour for durum wheat, moisture content was from 8.4 to 9.4 percent, whereas in the bread wheat, it was 7.9 to 10.2 percent. Flour extraction from selected samples of durum wheat was between 56.5 and 70.8 percent, while in bread wheat, it was 56.7 and 73.8 percent. The wet gluten content ranged from 41.5 to 48.0 percent in durum wheat, whereas in bread wheat, it was 35.5 to 51.5 percent. Entries with high wet gluten content in both durum and bread wheat also gave high dry gluten content and in durum wheat the highest was 15.5 percent, while in bread wheat it was 16.8 percent.
PERFORMANCE OF BREAD WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) AND DURUM WHEAT {Triticum durum Desf.) VARIETIES UNDER RAINFED CONDITION AT GEMBU ON MAMBILLA PLATEAU, NIGERIA