Combining Ability Studies for Forage Yield and Its Components in a Diallel Cross of Pearl Millet

Abstract

Combining ability and interrelationships information was derived on eight agronomic traits including the time to 50% flowering, plant height, tiller no. /plant, fresh weight of plant, stem thickness, green forage yield, leaf area/plant and leaf area index, from a diallel cross involving five diverse pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ) parents, developed in ICRISAT. The parents along with their crosses (excluding reciprocals) were grown in a complete block design with three replications at the University of Gezira Farm, July 1999. The objectives of this study were to measure and evaluate combining ability for forage yield and to explore the possibility of developing high forage yielding open-pollinated varieties and/or hybrids. Significant variability among entries was observed for all the traits measured except time to 50% flowering. The entries were also significantly different for all characters concerning their means ranking. The present study indicated predominantly non-additive gene action for most of the studied traits. However, considerable additive gene action was also indicated for the characters' plant height, fresh weight of plant and leaf area/plant. It was observed that good general combiners for forage yield were AlPop 88, AfPop 90 and Sudan yellow parents. Concerning the incorporation of desirable characteristics, recurrent selection can be efficiently used for making improvements in yield. The best crosses for forage yield were AfPop 90 X Sudan yellow (38.75 t/ha) and AfPop 88 X AfPop 90 (44.48 t/ha). Keywords: Combining ability, Forage, Pennisetum glaucum, a diallel cross DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-6-04 Publication date: March 31 st 2021