HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY FOR GREEN FODDER YIELD AND ITS CONTRIBUTING TRAITS IN FORAGE SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH]
V. R. AKABARI, H. P. PARMAR, NIRANJANA M. AND D. B. NAKARANI
Main Forage Research Station,
Anand Agricultural University,
Ananad-388110, (Gujarat), India
(e-mail : virenbreeder@gmail.com)
(Received: 2 July, 2012, Accepted: 26 July, 2013)
SUMMARY
Study of combining ability and heterosis were conducted on 45 F1 hybrids along with fifteen fodder sorghum genotypes (three male sterile lines and fifteen restorer lines) to know the pattern of inheritance of some morphological traits for selecting superior genotypes. The experiment was carried out according to line x tester mating design, during 2011. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes, parents, hybrids and line x tester interactions for all the traits under study. Variances of SCA were higher than the GCA variances for all traits which indicated predominance of non-additive gene action in the inheritance of the traits. The significant positive standard heterosis over GFSH-1 for green fodder yield per plant was exhibited by SURAT-1 x C-10-2 (42.53 %). This cross also exhibited high heterosis and per se performance for yield attributing traits viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height at 50 % flowering and dry matter yield per plant. It was followed by SURAT-1 x GUNDRI (24.34 %) and SURAT-4 x AFS-30 (22.50 %). Within CMS parents, SURAT-2 and SURAT-1 and among male parents, C-10-2, GUNDARI, AFS-30 and S-1049 were observed to be good general combiners for most of the characters studied. The cross combinations SURAT-1 x C-10-2, SURAT-4 x UP CHARI and SURAT-2 x Phule Amruta were found to be the best specific crosses for green fodder yield per plant. The hybrid SURAT-1 x C-10-2 and surat-4 x UP CHARI were also found to be the best specific crosses for days to 50% flowering and number of tillers per plant, therefore, these can be further exploited for selection of transgressive segregants.
Key words: Forage sorghum, heterosis, combining ability, green fodder yield, yield components