Heritability In Standard Units¹

Abstract

Synopsis A comparison was made between heritability percentages calculated by two regression methods, the conventional, and the standard unit or correlation. Their comparative reliability was determined by comparing predicted and actual gains in hypothetical selection experiments for date of heading in oat crosses. In an F 3 —F 4 selection experiment, the mean actual and predicted gain in days was 2.8 and 1.5 respectively when conventional heritabilities were used. With the standard unit method, the predicted and actual gains were both 0.9 standard deviation units. In an F 2 ‐F 4 comparison, both methods showed satisfactory agreement between actual and predicted gains.