Combining ability for physiological traits in spring wheat over environments

Abstract

Combining ability analysis was carried out in the F1 and F2 generations of a 10 × 10 parents half diallel for peduncle length and flag leaf area in spring wheat under three environments. The mean squares for both general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) were significant for peduncle length in both the generations, indicating the involvement of both additive and non-additive gene actions in the inheritance. However, the high values of GCA variance showed the greater importance of additive gene action in the inheritance of this trait. Flag leaf area was observed to be controlled by non-additive gene action. The environment played a significant role in the expression of both the traits. The GCA × environment interaction exhibited greater sensitivity in all cases than the SCA × environment interaction. The varieties Kharchia 65 and Durgapura 65 emerged as desirable general combiners for peduncle length, whereas Pavon and Moncho had high mean performance for flag leaf area. These parents could be used as donors in future breeding to develop a physiologically efficient wheat genotype with high production. The crosses Moncho × Brochis and Durgapura 65 × Raj 821 were the most desirable specific combinations for flag leaf area and Kharchia 65 × Chiroca for both the traits. Desirable transgressive segregants can be expected from these crosses. Diallel selective mating or bi-parental crossing could be useful for the genetic improvement of these physiological traits.