Combining Ability Effects for Various Agro-Morphological Traits in Rice under Temperate Conditions

Abstract

Rice is one of the most consumed food crops in the world and therefore possesses huge socio-economic relevance. Combining ability estimates provide the basis for selection of suitable parents in breeding programmes for rice improvement. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the combining ability effects for various agro-morphological traits in some genotypes of rice. Thirty-four male parents were crossed with the four CMS lines in line × tester matting design and 136 cross combinations were obtained. For most of the traits, SKUA-7A showed desirable GCA effect among the female parental lines; while RL-1, RL-2, RL-11, SKUA-497, SKUA-494, SKUA-496 and SKUA-420 showed desirable GCA effect amongst the male parents. Cross combinations SKUA-7A × RL-3 and SKUA-11A × RL-5 revealed desirable heterosis for most of the traits viz., grain yield, number of effective tillers plant-1, panicle length and number of spikelet panicle-1. These cross combinations also possessed desirable values of SCA effect. In general, the cross combinations showing desirable specific combining ability effects also reveal better per se performance for the respective traits.