Study of combining ability analysis on half diallel crosses in water stress of wheat (triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Combining ability analysis was performed in a 10 x 10 half diallel cross of ten bread wheat genotypes for yield and its contributing traits. The experiment was conducted in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 at Crop Research Centre, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Modipuram, Meerut, UP. Combining ability revealed that both general and specific combining ability variances were responsible for all the traits. Thus, additive and non-additive gene action was important in controlling the inheritance of all the traits. The variance due to gca was equal to that part of genetic variance which is due to additive and additive x additive effects, while variances due to sca was ascribed to non-additive components of variance that include dominance and epistatic variance. On the basis of overall gca effects, the best general combiners were WH-147, RAJ-3765, WH-730, NP-846, HUW-468, UP-2382 for maximum number of characters under normal and water stress condition. On the basis specific combining ability effects, five crosses viz., HUW-234 x RAJ-3765, HUW-234 x HUW468, WH-730 x C-306, C-306 x HD-2967 and DBW-17 x UP-2382 in normal condition, and WH-147 x WH-730, WH-147 x HD-2967, RAJ-3765 x HUW-468, RAJ-3765 x WH-730 and WH-730 x UP-2382 in water stress condition were found as good specific combiner for grain yield per plant.