COMBINING ABILITY ANALYSIS FOR YIELDS AND ITS COMPONENTS IN PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM L.)Shama Parveen, P.K. Singh and Vedant SachanAbstract Present investigation was carried out in Kharif 2022 to assess the magnitude than the general combining ability (GCA) effects for all the characters, indicating the preponderance of non-additive gene action for characters under study. The results indicate the presence of substantial variability in the selected materials for the study. The estimated components of variance for specific combining ability (SCA) effects were larger in magnitude than the general combining ability (GCA) effects for all the characters, indicating the preponderance of non-additive gene action for these characters. The estimates of GCA effects showed that the parents 418 R and 1358 R were good combiner for all the traits studied except number of grains/cm2 and fodder yield/ plant, respectively. The hybrids MS- 88004 A x 418 R and MS-863 A x 260 R were found superior with high SCA effects for seven important traits including grain yield as well as fodder yield per plant. Whereas, the crosses namely; MS-98222 A x 1358 R, MS-841 A x UCC-23 R, MS-841 A x 1404 R and MS-94555 A x 268 R registered higher SCA effects for the six important economic traits, including grain yield per plant. The crosses namely; MS-98222 A x 1358 R, MS-841 A x UCC-23 R, MS-841 A x 1404 R and MS-94555 A x 268 R registered higher SCA effects for six important economic traits, including grain yield per plant. These crosses were identified as superior and can be effectively utilized for hybrid breeding program. |