COMBINING ABILITY ANALYSIS FOR QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERS IN FORAGE MAIZE (Zea mays L.)
J. I. NANAVATI
Sheth M. C. Polytechnic in Agriculture,
Anand Agricultural University,
Anand – 388 110 (Gujarat), India
(email: nanavatijayesh15@gmail.com)
(Received : 31 March 2015; Accepted : 11 May 2015)
SUMMARY
Combining ability for various quantitative traits viz., plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves per plant, leaf : stem ratio and green fodder yield per plant were studied through (5 x 9) line x tester mating design. Highly significant gca and sca variances on pooled basis for the traits indicated that sufficient variability exists for gca effect in the parents and that for the sca effect in the crosses. Higher and significant sca variances on pooled basis suggested a higher non-additive gene action for these traits. Parents J-1006 and African Tall among females and GWC-0512, GWC-0401 and GWC-0511 among males were found to be the best general combiners. The hybrids viz., IC-130726 X GWC-0512, IC-107121 X GWC-9603 and IC-130726 X GWC-9603 were found to be the best specific crosses for green fodder yield per plant and, therefore, these can be further exploited for selection of hybrids and transgressive segregants.
Key words:Combining ability, quantitative traits, line x tester mating design, forage maize