Abstract
Maize is one of the most important cereal crop widely grown in the world. Maize crosses along with similar maturing checks were evaluated at Hawassa in 2015-2016 cropping season to understand the nature of gene action governing yield and its attributes through line × tester analysis and to study genetic contribution of line, tester and the interaction of line × tester to total variation. The experiment was done by using α-lattice design 6 × 11 arrangement. Cross L31×T2 showed the highest mean grain yield than both checks. The result showed that, lines played an important role towards days to anthesis, days to silking, ear length, number of rows per cob and number of kernels per row, indicating predominance of maternal lines. Based on analysis of genetic variance, traits variance due to specific combining ability (σ²SCA) was higher than variance due to general combining ability (σ²GCA) indicated, non-additive gene action was important than additive gene action in the inheritance of these traits. These best cross combinations could be effectively utilized in maize breeding for the improvement of yield components and thus their incorporation in further breeding program is suggested. Key words: Additive, non-additive, cross, genotypes, line × tester, yield.
Highlights
Maize is one of the most important cereal crops in the world after wheat and rice
Variance due to specific combining ability (SCA) (σ2SCA) was higher than variance due to general combining ability (σ2GCA) and the ratio of σ2GCA to σ2SCA was less than one for traits like days to anthesis, days to silking, days to maturity, ear diameter, thousand kernel weight, grain yield and cob per plant which indicate, non-additive gene action was more important than additive gene action in the inheritance of these traits (Table 1)
Kamara et al (2014) found similar result for ear diameter and thousand kernel weight. σ2GCA was larger than σ2SCA in plant height, ear length, number of rows per cob, number of kernels per row and biomass which indicates the additive gene action played the great role in governing the inheritance of these traits than non-additive gene action (Table 1)
Summary
Maize is one of the most important cereal crops in the world after wheat and rice. An important crop used as food and feed. It is a source of industrial materials for the production of fuel, oil, starch, syrup; gluten, alcohol, glucose, ethanol and many more products. In Ethiopia, maize is one of the most important cereal crops grown in almost all parts of the country. The popularity of maize in Ethiopia is partly because of its high value as a food, fodder and source of fuel for rural area. The total annual production and productivity of maize in Ethiopia exceeds all other cereal crops except Tef in area coverage (Mosisa et al, 2011)
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