Heterosis and inbreeding depression in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Ram Daya, Singh Lokendra*, Singh Sanjay Kumar, Kumar Jitendra Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur-208 002, (Uttar Pradesh), India *Email of corresponding author: lokendrapbg@rediffmail.com
Online published on 15 October, 2015. Abstract Economic heterosis and inbreeding depression for grain yield and its component characters were studied in 78 hybrids in a diallel cross set derived from 13 diverse parents in both F1 and F2 generations of barley. Highest economic heterosis was recorded for grain yield (48.82%) followed by number of productive tillers plant−1 (38.09%), 1000-grain weight (21.43%), length of spike (19.05%), number of grains spike−1 (11.63%) and plant height (11.72), respectively. Crosses BH 120/BR3085, K 329/BR3085, Azad/RD 883, Azad/K329, Azad/P267 and P420/K 71 exhibited high estimates of economic heterosis with varied estimates of inbreeding depression due to additive x additive and additive x dominance types of epistatic gene action. Non-additive gene action was predominantly responsible for the expression of grain yield. From the study it is concluded that multiple crossing followed by pedigree selection would be rewarding for grain yield improvement in barley. Top Keywords Barley, Combining ability, Heterosis, Inbreeding depression. Top |