Abstract
Ten durum wheat entries (Triticum durum Desf.) introduced from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) were used in this study .The grains were sown in the season (2006 – 2007) in the farms of the college of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University - IRAQ. Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications was used. The experimental unit consisted of 4 rows; 2.5m. long and 30 cm apart. The characters studied were number of days to 50%, plant height, spike length, Flag leaf area/cm2, number of grains/spike, number of spikes/m2, biological yield (kg/ha), grain yield (kg/ha), harvest index, 1000-grain weight, protein content and ash content. Entries were significantly different at 1% level for all the characters. Broad sense heritability values were high for all the characters. The expected genetic advance values as the percent of the total mean characters were ranged between low for number of days to 50 % , plant height, biological yield and ash content; medium for spike length, flag leaf area, number of grains/spike, grain yield, harvest index, 1000-grain weight, protein content and high for the number of spikes/m2. The selection index that included the three characters, length of spike, number of spikes/m2 and the number of grains/spike was superior over the direct selection of grain yield.
