Abstract
Twenty-eight hybrids of Zea mays L. produced in 2015-16 from 8×8 half diallel mating design were evaluated along with their parents in 2016-2017 under saline condition to find out genetic action and potency ratio of some agronomic and yield contributing traits. Genetic action and potency ratio were analyzed following Hayman’s diallel analyses and Smith’s formula, respectively. Genetic parameter like additive variance (D), dominance variance (H1), proportion of positive and negative genes in the parents (H2), relative frequency of dominant and recessive alleles in the parents (F), dominance effect over all loci in heterozygous phase (h2) suggested that traits like days to tasseling, days to silking, anthesis silking interval, ear height and number of grains/plant are governed by dominant alleles in these traits. Contrariwise, the data of plant height and 100-grain weight were shown to have higher frequency of recessive alleles. Proportion of genes with positive and negative [(4DH1)0.5 + F]/[(4DH1)0.5 – F] effects suggested the asymmetrical distribution of dominant and recessive alleles for all the traits except yield/plant. Under saline condition heritability in narrow sense (h2n) was found very low which indicates a possible strong influence of stress in the growing environment. These parameters along with Vr-Wr graphs and potency ratio indicated overdominance in desirable direction, and thus, heterosis breeding is important to improve those traits in maize under salinity. Key words: Maize, salinity, genetic parameter, Vr-Wr, potence, inheritance.  
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays) is the solely cultivated species of the genus ‘Zea’ and the tribe Maydeae
Eight maize inbred lines (CZ-28, CZ-29, BIL-65, CZ-36, CZ-12, CZ26, CZ-24 and 9MG) collected from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) were crossed in a diallel fashion excluding the reciprocals during the rabi season in 2015-2016 at BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
This increasing tendency of salinity is due to depletion of soil moisture, because there was no rain in this period
Summary
Maize (Zea mays) is the solely cultivated species of the genus ‘Zea’ and the tribe Maydeae. It is the oldest crop species domesticated as food crop in the world which is a C4 crop. Being a C4 crop, maize possesses most potentiality of ensuring food security in the coming days (Chohan, 2012). It can be cultivable in broad climatic conditions worldwide. Maize occupies the third most important position as a crop. Maize is compatible with wide range of agro-climatic zones. The suitability of maize to diverse environments is unparalleled to any other crops (Hossain et al, 2016). Maize can be grown from below sea level to higher altitudes like >3000 m
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