General and specific combining ability analysis for yield and yield contributing characters in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to analyse the nature of gene action involved in the inheritance of seed yield and its components using F1s of 7 parents half- diallel cross. The 7 parents and 21 hybrids were planted in a randomized block design with three replications during summer 2016. General combining ability and specific combining ability were estimated for 12 characters viz.. days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of pods per plant, pod length, pod yield per plant, shelling %, kernel yield per plant, 100 kernel weight, oil content and haulm yield per plant. The genetic analysis was done following Griffing’s Method II with Model I (1956). Analysis of variance for combining ability revealed that GCA and SCA were highly significant for all the characters under study in F1 generation. This suggested the importance of both additive and non-additive gene effects in the inheritance of traits under study. However, the estimates of variance due to SCA is greater than variance due to GCA for all the characters involved in the study indicating the predominance of non-additive gene action in controlling the expression of all the traits involved in the study.