Genetic gain in yield and changes associated with physiological traits in Brazilian wheat during the 20th century

The objective of this study was to characterize physiologically wheat cultivars released in different decades and identify selection criteria for the continued genetic progress in Brazil. Ten cultivars released from 1940 up to 2009 were tested during 2010 and 2011 crop seasons. The following traits were evaluated: grain yield (GY), thousand-kernel weight (TKW), grain number per m−2 (GN), plant height (PH), harvest index (HI), above-ground...