Vergleich dreier unterschiedlich spezialisierter Winterweizen-Populationen unter ökologischen und konventionellen Anbaubedingungen in Deutschland und England

Summary

Three Composite Cross Populations (CCPs) of winter wheat were created in 2001, one from crossing high baking quality parents (called QCCP), one based on high yielding parents (YCCP), and one created from both parent sets combined (YQ). All three CCPs were grown for several years in the UK and in Germany under conventional and organic cropping management. Based on properties of the different parent sets, yields were predicted to be highest in the YCCP and lowest in the QCCP, with the YQCCP in between. However, data showed that the YCCP was not significantly higher-yielding than the more generalist YQCCP in five out of six sites; in fact, the YQCCP even tended to outyield the YCCP on average over all sites, and this effect was significant at the German conventional site. Our results suggest that high diversity present in generalist populations of wheat may convey yield advantages.