Traits Viz Research Articles

INVESTIGATING THE INHERITANCE PATTERNS AND POTENTIAL ASSOCIATIONS OF SELECTED HUMAN MORPHOGENETIC TRAITS

This research analyses the distribution, inheritance patterns, and potential associations between various physical characteristics(Handedness, Hand-clasping, Tongue-rolling, tongue folding and Hitchhiker’s thumb, Mid-phalangeal hair, bent little finger, Cleft chin, Widow’s peak, earlobe attachment & Dimpled cheeks) in students from the Faculty of Agriculture Sciences. The Chi-square was used of independence to assess inheritance patterns and potential links. The findings reveal interesting patterns: some recessive traits viz; Mid-phalangeal hair, bent little finger, Cleft chin, Widow’s peak, earlobe attachment & Dimpled cheeks were more common than their dominant counterparts. In contrast, dominant features such as handedness, hand-clasping, tongue-rolling, tongue folding, and hitchhiker's thumb were found more frequently. There is also a significant relationship between morphogenetic features (tongue rolling, mid-phalangeal hair, and widow's peak) and gender. This investigation has implications for several disciplines, including human genetics, forensics, and anthropology. Establishing a baseline for this specific population size group allows for future investigation into human variety and the intriguing realm of inheritance.

Effect of crop residue and weed management on weed incidence, soil moisture and yield of chickpea

Chickpea is a major pulse crop which is grown and consumed by the Indian people. Due to poor weed competition ability of chickpea and very few weed management options, yield of chickpea is drastically reduced under vertisols. Therefore, the present study related to weed management and crop residues on weed incidence, yield attributing character and yield of chickpea was conducted at Research Farm of JNKVV, Jabalpur (MP), India. A field experiment was undertaken in split plot design with 3 replications and 4 weed-management treatment in main-plot and four crop residues as sub-plot. The main plot treatments were pendimethalin 38.7% CS at 1 kg/ha as pre plant incorporation (PPI), hand weeding at 30 days after sowing (DAS), hand hoeing at 30 DAS and weedy check. Four crop residues mulch (CRM) were, wheat straw (WSM), paddy straw (PSM) and soybean haulm (SHM) each at 5 t/ha and control where no mulch material was applied. Results revealed that imposition of hand weeding at 30 DAS recorded with least weeds with lesser weed biomass resulting in higher weed control efficiency (WCE). However, weedy check recorded maximum weed count and dry weight. Pendimethalin 1 kg/ha recorded lower weed prevalence and weed dry weight. It was similar to hand hoeing done at 30 DAS. Among applied CRM, PSM recorded lower weed density and dry weight with higher WCE and soil moisture at 30 DAS and was superior over control plots. Hand weeding at 30 DAS recorded with higher yield attributing traits viz, pods/plant, seed/pod and seed index resulted higher seed yield (1,604 and 1,731 kg/ha respectively in 2018–19 and 2019–20). It was at par with pendimethalin at 1 kg/ha. The lower yield attributes and yield was recorded in weedy check plots. Among CRM, spreading of PSM give more pods and seeds/pod with higher seed index resulted in higher seed yield (1515 and 1593 kg/ha in 2018–19 and 2019–20 respectively) over others. Thus, application of PSM at 5 t/ha with one hand weeding at 30 DAS or with pendimethalin can be suggested for significant weed control and higher seed yield in chickpea.

Characterization of wheat genotypes for PEG-induced physiological drought stress at seedling stage

Abiotic stresses like drought frequently reduce the productivity of wheat, an important global cereal crop farmed for food, feed and raw materials. Therefore, attempt should be made to search for drought tolerance in wheat cultivars. The purpose of the study was to look into how morphological features thirty wheat genotypes were affected by PEG-induced physiological drought stress at germination and seedling stages. Seven morphological traits viz germination percentage, root number, shoot length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight was measured at 14 days of stress condition and significant variation was observed in most of the traits due to genotypes, treatments, and genotype × treatment interaction. Drought stress causes a significant decrease in almost all morphological traits during the germination and early seedling stages, and among the genotypes SA-2 and SA-3 were performed best. A positive significant correlation was found among the morphological traits, except for fresh and dry weight of shoot. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) showed that only first two PCs were significant and had eigenvalues > 1. The first two PCs cover the 72.78% of total variation. Multi Trait Stability Index (MTSI) showed that SA-3, SA-2, BL-1020 and PV-79 performed well in drought stress condition and these genotypes can be further used for breeding program to develop drought tolerant high yielding wheat variety.

GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.) GERMPLASM FOR YIELD AND FIBRE TRAITS UNDER ARID CLIMATIC CONDITION

Climate change has drastically affected the performance of several agricultural crops. Cotton is an important fibre crop which is severely influenced by the climate change in recent years Presence of genetic variability among germplasm is a key source for selecting the genotypes that are more adapted to the agro-climatic conditions with respect to yield and fibre related traits. For this purpose, 180 cotton genotypes were sown under augmented design with recommended management practices. Data for the morphological, yield and fibre traits viz plant height (PH), CLCuD(%),bolls per plant, boll weight (g), yield/ plant (g), GOT (%), staple length (mm), mike (ug/inch), staple strength (g/tex) were recorded and analysed. The results of variance analysis revealed that significant variability was observed among genotypes for all the traits under study. PCA biplot showed that 26% variability was observed in PC1 and 15.5% in PC2. Genotypes no. 30 was found with distant yield and fibre characteristics. Through cluster analysis, total 180 cotton genotypes were grouped into nine different clusters. Group 7 and group 8 consist of 15 and 03 genotypes respectively. Genotypes among these two groups represent the higher CLCuD resistance, maximum yield per plant with better fibre traits. Phenotypic evaluation of cotton genotypes for different morphological, yield and fibre traits provide the basis for exploitation of best performing genotypes in the future breeding programme.

GENOTYPIC VARIABILITY AND TRAIT ASSOCIATION IN COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.) SEEDLINGS UNDER NORMAL AND DROUGHT CONDITIONS

The genetic variability and correlation parameter studies for seedling traits viz; fresh root length, fresh shoot length, fresh shoot weight, dry shoot weight, tissue moisture percentage and root/shoot ratio in 40 accessions of cotton germplasm, including both local and exotic available at different research stations and institutes of Pakistan were carried out under greenhouse in the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, during the year 2006. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for seedling characters like root length, shoot length, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, tissue moisture percentage and root/shoot ratio under normal and water stress conditions. Based on rooting character and root/shoot ratio, three drought-tolerant cotton genotypes 149-F, BH-124 and DPL-26 and three drought susceptible VH-28, FH-945 and CIM-446 were selected. Correlation coefficients under normal conditions were greater than under drought stress, and the direction of correlations of seedling traits in most cases remained the same. Under normal (r = 0.72) and drought (r = 0.48) conditions, shoot length and root length, were positively correlated, indicating a corresponding increase in shoot length with an increase in root length and vice versa.

Efficacy of Various Biopesticides against Red Ant (Dorylus orientalis Westwood) in Potato Field

Red ant (Dorylus orientalis Westwood) is the most destructive insect pest of potato tubers in the field in Nepal. A field experiment was conducted at Bhatkada, Dadeldhura district, Nepal in 2020 to determine the efficacy of various biopesticides and chemical insecticide on red ants. The plot size in this experiment was 106.7 m2. Five treatments viz. Chlorpyriphos 20% EC (2 mL L-1 water), Banmaara (2 kg plot-1), Cow urine (2 L 6 L-1water plot-1), Agave (25 g tuber-1) and Control (no treatment) were evaluated in randomized complete block design with four replications. The data on plant height and the number of leaves were taken at 45, 60, and 75 days after planting (DAP). The data on slightly and severely infested tubers were taken after harvesting of potato. The results showed that Chlorpyriphos treated plots gave the lowest values of traits viz numbers of slightly infested tuber (91,500 ha-1), severely infested tubers (12,500 ha-1), weights of slight infested tubers (7,700 kg ha-1) and severely infested tuber (1,130 kg ha-1). Among the botanical pesticides, Agave treated plots provided the second lowest values of numbers of slightly infested tuber (145,500 ha-1), severely infested tubers (37,400 ha-1), weights of slight infested tubers (13,400 kg ha-1) and severely infested tuber (3,110 kg ha-1). The results showed that the Agave treatment provided the highest marketable yield (50,900 kg ha-1). Thus, Chlorpyriphos and Agave could be used to efficiently protect potato tubers from red ant in potato field.

Using multivariate adaptive regression splines and classification and regression tree data mining algorithms to predict body weight of Nguni cows

ABSTRACT The study was performed to determine the association between body weight and biometric traits and to examine the effect of biometric traits on the live body weight of Nguni cows using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) data mining algorithms. In total, 105 Nguni cows aged three to four years were used for body weight (BW) and biometric traits viz; head width (HW), head length (HL), ear length (EL), body length (BL), rump height (RH), withers height (WH), sternum height (SH), body depth (BD), bicoastal diameter (BCD), rump width (RW), rump length (RL) and heart girth (HG). Coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted coefficient of determination (Adj.R2), root-mean square error (RMSE), standard deviation ratio (SD ratio) and Pearson correlation between actual and predicted values were predicted to find out the best fit models. MARS models in prediction of BW presented as the best fit as compare with CART model with higher R2 = 0.993 and Adj.R2 = 0.991 with the lowest RMSE = 5.97 and SD ratio = 0.081. In this study, MARS models established are the significant statistical tools that might be used for describing studied breed standards for breeding purposes.

Genetic diversity studies in turnip (Brassica rapa L) under low hills of Himachal Pradesh

The present investigations were carried out at the vegetable research farm of the Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Neri, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh during rabi 2020. Twelve genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block design with 3 replications to know the extent of variability, heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean for average root yield with leaves and other horticulture traits among the genotypes. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters under study. Best genotype in terms of average root yield with leaves was Pusa Sweti (200.66 g) along with T-COHF-NERI-5 (185.77 g). The traits viz leaf area, root-shoot ratio, plant spread and ascorbic acid content expressed high GCV and PCV values. High heritability was exhibited by the trait duration of availability of marketable roots followed by days to first harvest and ascorbic acid content. However high genetic advance as percentage of mean was observed for the trait root-shoot ratio followed by plant spread, ascorbic acid content, duration of availability of marketable roots and average root yield with leaves.

Exploring the Phenotypic Stability of Soybean Seed Compositions Using Multi-Trait Stability Index Approach

In order to ensure an ongoing and long-term breeding progress of soybean, stable sources of major quality traits across multi-environments need to be identified. Here, a panel of 135 soybean genotypes was tested in three different Chinese environments, including Beijing, Anhui, and Hainan during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons to identify stable genotypes for cultivation under varying environmental conditions. The weighted average of absolute scores biplot (WAASB) for the best linear unbiased predictions of the genotype-environment interaction and multi-trait stability index (MTSI) were utilized to determine the stability of the soybeans for seven seed composition traits viz; protein content, oil content, and five fatty acids (palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids). Based on the WAASB index, the following genotypes were identified as stable genotypes for some specific traits; ZDD12828 and ZDD12832 for protein content, WDD01583 and WDD03025 for oil content, ZDD23040 for palmitic acid, WDD00033 for stearic acid, ZDD23822 for oleic acid, ZDD11183 for linoleic acid, and ZDD08489 for linolenic acid. Furthermore, based on MTSI at a selection intensity of 10%, 14 soybean genotypes were selected for their average performance and stability. Overall, the MTSI was shown to be a powerful and simple tool for identifying superior genotypes in terms of both performance and stability, hence, identifying stable soybean genotypes for future breeding programs of quality traits.

Characterization of 24bp Insertion Polymorphism of Prolactin Gene and its Association with Quantitative Traits in Tellicherry Native Chicken Breed

Background: Over many centuries, the conventional methods of poultry breeding is based on the phenotypic selection of the birds with superior trait in a particular population. Prolactin is a physiological candidate gene that has significant effects on production traits in poultry. The objective of this study was to investigate 24bp insertion (I) polymorphism of prolactin gene and its association with quantitative traits in Tellicherry native chicken. Methods: A total of 200 blood samples were collected from the randomly selected birds of All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Poultry Breeding, Mannuthy. The isolated DNA samples were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by using specific set of primers to amplify the 24bp insertion polymorphism. PCR amplicons were sequenced to study the polymorphism at nucleotide level. Result: PCR amplification revealed the presence of a specific DNA fragment with 130/154bp contained 24bp insertion polymorphism. Based on the polymorphic patterns birds were designated with three genotypes as II, ID and DD. The frequency of I (0.6975) allele was found higher than D (0.3025) allele. Our experimental results revealed that 24bp insertion polymorphism of prolactin did not have a significant association with production traits viz, age at sexual maturity, egg weight and egg number in Tellicherry native chicken.

Application of Biometric Traits for Predicting Weaning Weight of Dorper Sheep using Path Analysis

The current study was conducted to examine the relationship between weaning weight and biometric traits viz; heart girth (HG), rump height (RH), body length (BL), withers height (WH) and sternum height (SH) and, also to determine direct and indirect influence of biometric traits on weaning weight (WW) of Dorper sheep. Dorper sheep lambs (females=23, males=16) were used. Pearson’s correlation and path analysis were used for data analysis. Female correlation results indicated that WW had a positive highly significant correlation with HG (r=0.66), BL (r=0.66) and RH (r=0.55), and positively statistical correlation with WH (r=0.45) at P<0.05 whereas in males, results demonstrated that WW had a negative highly significant correlation with HG (r=-0.51) at P<0.05. Path analysis results on females showed that BL (0.34) had the greatest direct effect on WW while HG (0.31) had the highest indirect contribution on WW, males’ results indicated that HG (0.97) had the highest direct contribution on WW while WH (0.69) had the greatest indirect effect on WW. Current study information will assist rural farmer who lack weighing scales to predict weight of their animals for various reasons such as for breeding and marketing purposes and again study outcome will help sheep breeders to select direct and indirect traits influencing weaning weight for improvement.

English

Grain morphology affects the weight of grain which ultimately affects grain yield in wheat. Several morpho-physiological traits influence grain morphology. To assess the diversity for morpho-physiological traits and to characterize wheat for grain morphology, a collection comprising of 60 wheat varieties were explored. The ANOVA showed significant differences between varieties for all the parameters except grain thickness, peduncle length, and plant height. Descriptive statistics indicated that the collection of germplasm contained enough variability for the traits under consideration. Grain architectural traits showed positive significant correlations with most of the metric traits suggesting several criteria for indirect selection of traits like grain yield. A positive significant correlation of WUE was observed with grain morphology traits viz: grain width, grain size, grain thickness and grain volume. While 1000 grain weight, water use efficiency, grain length, grain width, grain size, grain thickness and grain volume showed positive significant correlation with grain yield. Principal component analysis extracted seven significant PCs having a cumulative variance of 78.87%. This variation was quite encouraging to initiate a breeding program to improve grain morphology and morpho-physiological traits. The PC1 indicted that grain width, unproductive water use, grain area size, and grain volume were the most diverse traits. In PC2, the maximum positive contribution towards variation was shown by the grain area, grain length and grain volume. The cluster analysis grouped varieties into seven clusters of high, medium, and low performance based on morphology and grain architecture traits. This classification might help in the selection of high and low performing varieties and could be used as parents in hybridization program. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers

Correlation and path coefficient studies for fruit component traits in coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) hybrids

The present investigation was carried out at the ICAR-AICRP Palms centre, Coconut Research Station, TNAU, Aliyarnagar, Tamil Nadu during 2012 to 2020 with five location specific coconut hybrids along with two tall varieties as local adopted checks viz., West Coast Tall (WCT) and Kalpatharu. Correlation and path analysis was performed to assess the association among nut yield and copra yield with important yield contributing traits in Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.). Correlation and path analysis revealed that copra yield per palm was positively and significantly associated with the fruit component traits viz., nut yield per palm per year, de-husked nut weight, whole nut weight, copra weight, fruit breadth and fruit length. A positive correlation was found among fruit component traits viz, fruit length, fruit breadth, whole nut weight, de-husked nut weight and copra weight. Path coefficient analysis showed that nut yield, de-husked nut weight, and copra weight recorded the highest positive direct effect on copra yield per palm. The results of the present study suggest that selection for high copra yield based on the total number of nuts per palm per year, copra weight per nut and de-husked nut weight in coconut would be rewarding for developing high yielding genotypes in coconut.

Identification and Characterization of Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) for Waterlogging Tolerance in Bread Wheat

Waterlogging is an abiotic stress affecting wheat yields throughout the world, under climate change era and thus inbuilt tolerance will be an effective and economical approach. The aim was to identify the promising genotypes from recombinant inbred line (RILs) populations based on specific traits contributing to waterlogging tolerance for sustaining wheat yields. 340 RILs were developed by using a known source for waterlogging tolerance (BH 1146) and a high yielding wide adapted variety (DBW17) using single seed decent (SSD) method up to 7 generation of recombination cycles. The experiment was conducted using augmented block design under normal and waterlogging conditions. The waterlogging condition was created at four important growth stages viz ., seedling, tillering, reproductive and grain-filling stage by stagnating water for one week in waterlogging experiment. The traits viz ., plant height, tillers number per meter, spike weight, 1000-grain weight, biological yield and harvest index exhibited significant and positive correlation with grain yield under waterlogging, indicating that these traits contributed significantly towards grain yield under waterlogging condition. Twelve lines (SSD-06, SSD -15, SSD-17, SSD-24, SSD-28, SSD-94, SSD-99, SSD-130, SSD-134, SSD-245, SSD-253 and SSD-264) were selected based on high mean and least reduction percent for grain yield, biological yield, and 1000-grain weight. Similarly, 05 lines (SSD-27, SSD-30, SSD-80, SSD-130 and SSD-303) were most promising lines for grain yield, biological yield, and tillers per meter over the superior check. The selected RILs could be used as donors in hybridization programme in future for enhancing tolerance in wheat cultivars for waterlogging stressed environments.

Analysis of qualitative characteristics among and between populations of Grewia optiva Drummond (Beul)

Thirty Populations of superior plus trees (20-30 cm diameter) of Grewia optiva Drummond (Beul) have been selected for study in six districts of Himachal Pradesh viz. Solan, Sirmour, Una, Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra, to study the variation in morphological descriptors among different populations to study qualitative characteristics, On the basis of overall scoring index of useful desired traits, in bark feature silver brown has the maximum percentage value (56.11%), in leaf characteristics ovate leaf shape (95%), leaf colour 135-A (Dark green) (26.11%), leaf serrate margin (87.77%) and leaf apex acuminate has the maximum percentage value i.e. (85.55%) among all other qualitative traits studied.Study concludes with natural phenotypical variation and scoring index on each individual traits for selection and screening of superior individuals within the populations, so as to get improved genetic gain and establishment of gene bank of superior families and best genotypes of the best families. These desired traits viz silver brown bark ovate leaf shape dark green colour Leaf serrate margin are recommended for selection after screening of identified features of the morphotypes.

Effect of seed priming with plant growth regulators on growth, biochemical changes and yield of Mung bean (Vigna radiata L.)

Seed priming is employed for better crop stand and higher yield in a range of crops. In order to evaluate the effect of seed treatments with growth regulators on the yield and yield components of mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) variety, a experiment was carried out under field condition at students instructional farm of Acharaya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology, Narendra Nagar, (Kumarganj), Ayodhya U.P. during kharif season 2019 based on a Randomized Blok Design with three replications variety of Narendra Mung-1 with seven treatments were taken. The maximum germination percentage (90.25%) was recorded with seed priming of GA3- 100ppm over other treatments including control. Growth characters as plant height, total dry biomass, and chlorophyll content and nitrogen content in green leaves and protein content in mature seeds were found significantly superior with seed priming of GA3-100ppm followed by NAA-100ppm over control. Yield and yield contributing traits viz: number of pod clusters per plant (8.33), number of pods per plant (48.26), pod length (7.66cm), number of seeds per plant (416.66), number of seeds per pod (10.33), 100 seed weight (3.92g), seed yield per plant (14.36g), seed yield (11.66 q h-1) and harvest index (36.06%) were also found statistically superior with seed priming of GA3-100ppm followed by priming in NAA-100ppm over control.Generally, the use of growth regulators as a pre-treatment of seed increased the yield and yield components.

Stability for yield and its attributing traits in advanced aromatic genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Thirteen aromatic rice genotypes were evaluated for their stability parameters with respect to yield and its attributing characters like days to fifty per cent flowering, plant height (cm), panicle length (cm), number of panicles per square meter, number of spikelets per panicle, spikelet fertility and test weight in a multi-locational trial at four different sites viz. ARS, Vadgaon Maval (Pune), ZARS, Igatpuri (Nashik) ARS, Karad (Satara) and ARS, Radhanagari (Kolhapur). Pooled analysis of variance reflects existence of significant differences among the genotypes, among the environments and genotype x environment interactions. Environment linear and non linear components played major role in estimating stability parameters. The genotypes VDN-17-58 and VDN-1819 both having strong aroma, a genotype RDN-17-29 having mild aroma, and all the three were found average stable for the traits viz, seed yield, plant height, spikelet fertility and test weight. These three genotypes also recorded higher milling percentage, more head rice recovery, lower amylose, and could be recommended for cultivation in Western Maharashtra (Pune, Nashik, Satara, Kolhapur districts). The stable genotype KJT-011-19 for seed yield and other characters had lower milling percentage, lower head rice recovery and grain chalkiness hence could not be suitable for cultivation.

Studies of genetic parameters for productive traits in early maturing sugarcane clones and selection of superior clones

In an experiment, 16 early maturing sugarcane clones along with 2 checks were planted in Randomized Block Design with three replications during spring season 2016-17 at Dr. RPCAU, Pusa, Bihar to study the genetic parameters for productive traits in early maturing sugarcane clones and select the superior clones. The productive traits under studied were germination percentage at 45 & 90 days after planting (DAP), number of shoots at 120 & 240 DAP (000/ha), plant height at 150 days, 240 days (cm) & 300 days(at harvest), cane diameter (cm), fibre per cent, single cane weight (kg), number of millable cane (000/ha), juice quality traits viz, brix, pol & purity per cent at 8 & 10th months stage, respectively, CCS per cent, cane and sugar yield (tonne/ha) at harvest. Analysis of variance revealed that highly significant differences among the clones for all the productive traits under study. Maximum range was found for the trait plant height at 150 days followed by plant height at 240 days and cane yield. The phenotypic coefficient of variance was greater than genotypic coefficient of variance for all the traits. The traits namely, cane yield, sugar yield, single cane weight, number of shoots at 120 DAP, cane diameter and germination percentage at 90 DAP showed high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean. On the basis of per se performance of six productive traits the clones namely, CoP 15437, CoP 14436 CoP 11437, CoLk 12207 and CoP 12437 were selected as superior early maturing genotypes. All these clones can be utilized by the farmers as well as Sugar Factories to get high yield and high sugar in early phage of crushing and also its can be further utilization for sugarcane crop improvement programme.

Combining Ability and Heterosis for Fodder Yield and Other Associated Traits in Oat (Avena sativa L.) القدرة على التآلف وقوة الهجین لمحصول العلف والصفات المرتبطة الأخرى فی محصول الشوفان

Combining ability and heterosis studies were performed on half diallel mating. The basic material for the present study consisted of six diverse genotypes of oats viz: Alguda, Anatolia, Kangaroo, ICARDA tall, Bihuth and Shifa'.15 F1 hybrids and their parents were grown in randomized complete block design with three replications. Observations were recorded on six quantitative traits. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the parents and their crosses for all the studied traits. The estimates of variance due to non-additive gene action (σ2D) was much higher than the corresponding additive genetic variance (σ2A) for all the traits under evaluation.Values of GCA effects revealed that ICARDA tall was found to be the best general combiner for biological yield amongst all the parents. It was also found to have significant positive GCA values for other traits. On the basis of significant SCA effects, hybrids ICARDA tall x Bihuth and Alguda x Bihuth recorded highest SCA effects for biological yield, also showed positive and significant SCA values for other traits. The F1 hybrids were showed the best specific combinations viz; Bihuth x shifa' for days to 50% heading and days to 75% maturity, Anatolia x Kangaroo for plant height at maturity,Anatolia x Bihuth for numbers of tillers. Highest significant and positive heterosis for biological yield was shown by F1 hybrid Alguda x Bihuth followed by ICARDA tall x Bihuth. These crosses combinations also exhibited highly values with positive and significant heterobeltiosis for two traits viz; plant height at maturity and growth rate.

Genetic evaluation of growth performance in Corriedale sheep in J&K, India

The data pertaining to 6874 lambs born to a total of 145 sires spanning over a period of 49 years (1969–2017) were collected from Mountain Sheep and Goat Research Station, SKUAST-K, Shuhama, Kashmir for a comprehensive evaluation of the growth performance of Corriedale sheep under Indian (temperate) conditions to assess the random effect of sire and fixed effects of period, sex, and type of birth on its performance. All the 145 sires, during the study period, were selected from within the farm. Evaluation was done for 11 performance traits viz: birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six months body weight (SMW), nine months body weight (NMW), yearling body weight (YBW), average daily gain from birth to weaning (ADG-1), metabolic mass at weaning (WW0.75), Kleiber ratio from birth to weaning (KR-1), average daily gain from weaning to yearling age (ADG-2), and metabolic mass at yearling age (YBW0.75) and Kleiber ratio from weaning to yearling age (KR-2). The overall least-squares means for BW, WW, SMW, NMW, YBW, ADG-1, WW0.75, KR-1, ADG-2, YBW0.75 and KR-2 were 3.66 ± 0.02 kg, 13.48 ± 0.14 kg, 18.79 ± 0.25 kg, 21.96 ± 0.19 kg, 25.23 ± 0.19 kg, 109.0.21 ± 1.56 gm/day, 7.01 ± 0.06 kg, 15.29 ± 0.10, 41.49 ± 0.42 gm/day, 11.23 ± 0.07 kg and 3.64 ± 0.29, respectively. The effect of sire and period was significant (p < 0.01) whereas effect of birth type was non-significant on all the traits. The effect of sex of animal was significant on growth performance traits and males were heavy at all age than females. The heritability estimates ranged from low to high indicated low to genetic variability. The genetic and phenotypic correlations between different traits also range from low to very high. The average breeding values of sires were 3.69 ± 0.02 kg, 13.46 ± 0.09 kg, 18.41 ± 0.15 kg, 21.73 ± 0.12 kg, 25.12 ± 0.12 kg, 108.66 ± 0.93 gm/day, 7.01 ± 0.03 kg, 15.24 ± 0.07, 41.75 ± 0.33 gm/day, 11.22 ± 0.03 kg and 3.67 ± 0.02 for BW, WW, SMW, NMW, YBW, ADG-1, WW0.75, KR-1, ADG-2, YBW0.75 and KR-2, respectively. The negative phenotypic and genetic trends were observed for all traits except KR-2. The environmental trend was positive for SMW, NMW, YMW, ADG-1 and KR-2. The results indicate selection based on SMW may improve growth performance in this flock as the trait has high heritability and positive genetic and phenotypic correlations with other body weight and growth performance traits. An optimal strategy for selection considering both genetic merits and coancestry of mates (avoiding close breeding) may be adopted which is also in consonance with the current breeding policy of the J&K.