Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding (The)
Year : 1981, Volume : 41, Issue : 1
First page : ( 37) Last page : ( 40)
Print ISSN : 0019-5200. Online ISSN : 0975-6906.

Combining ability for goleoptile length in bread wheat

Gill K. S., Bhullar G. S., Bains K. S., Bhatia Alok¹

Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141004, India

Present address: ¹Present address: Division of Plant Improvement, Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.

Summary

Combining ability studies for coleoptile length in diallel crosses involving seven diverse wheat cultivars in generations F₂ to F₆ are reported. The general combining ability variances were significant in all the generations and their magnitude consistently increased over that of specific combining ability variances with the advancement of generations establishing clear predominance of additive genetic system for this attribute. The ratio of GCA:SCA variances was also quite high in all the filial generations substantiating the operation of additive genetic system for coleoptile length. However, the specific combining ability variances were observed to be significant in the F₂ and F₃ generations only and not in the latter generations. The general combining ability estimates were quite consistent over the generations and depicted repeatability over all the measured generations. The tall Indian variety C 273 was observed to be the highest general combiner followed by another tall variety K 68. The specific effects were not consistent and lacked repeatability over the generations. In view of repeatability of GGA estimates over the generations, the possibility of early detection of prepotent parents for greater coleoptile length and their simultaneous exploitation has been discussed. The two cross combinations namely Sonalika × Sharbati Sonora and G 273 × K 68 giving positively significant specific effects in an advanced generation like Fg offer the best possibilities of exploitation for the development of desirable lines.

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