Ajay Singh , J. P. Shahi , D. M. Langade

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2013, Vol. 4, No. 22   doi: 10.5376/mpb.2013.04.0022
Received: 13 Jun., 2013    Accepted: 19 Jun., 2013    Published: 21 Jun., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Singh et al., 2013, Combining Ability Studies for Yield and its Related Traits in Inbred Lines of Maize (Zea mays L.), Molecular Plant Breeding, Vol.4, No.22 177-188 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2013.04.0022)

Combining ability analysis for yield and its component traits was performed with 15 lines, 3 testers, 3 checks and the resulting 45 crosses using Line×Tester analysis. The analysis of variance indicated significant differences among parents, females, males, crosses, females vs. males and parents vs. crosses for almost all the traits. Combining ability analysis showed significant to highly significant differences among the lines, testers and lines×tester. L6 was a good general combiner for earliness, whereas, L2 for dwarfness and yield. Tester T1 was good general combiner for earliness, T3 for dwarfness and T2 for yield. The mean performance of the different genotypes revealed that the crosses L11×T2, L10×T3 and L12×T2 showed highest yield / plot. L5×T3 exhibited negative and significant estimate of SCA effect for maturity traits, whereas, L10×T1 exhibited the same for height. Crosses L6×T1, L8×T1 and L14×T2 recorded positive and significant SCA effects for yield / plot. Cross L7×T1 recorded positive and significant estimates of SCA effect for ear length, ear diameter and rows per ear.

Combining ability; GCA; Maize (Zea mays L.); SCA