A comparison of selection methods for reduced shattering in wild rice, Zizania palustris L.

Two cycles of mass selection in the greenhouse and one cycle of half-sib family selection in the field, both at a 10% selection intensity, produced two populations which were compared to each other and to their parent cultivar Netum at two sites. Progress from selection for tensile strength was 49.6% for two cycles of mass selection and 15.9% for one cycle of half-sib family selection. Realized heritability estimates for grain retention were 0.58 and 0.55 at the two sites.