ANALYSIS OF COMBINING ABILITY IN MAIZE (Zea mays L.) UNDER TEMPERATE CONDITIONS

ZAHOOR AHMED DAR¹, AJAZ AHMED LONE², SHABIR HUSSAIN WANI³*, BASHIR ALAIE⁴, ISHFAQ ABIDI⁵, GOWHAR ALI⁶, MEHFUZA HABIB⁷, ASIF MOHAMMAD IQBAL⁸, MOHAMMAD ALTAF WANI^9
1Dry Land Agricultural Research Station, Budgam, Srinagar, Kashmir, 190001
²Dry Land Agricultural Research Station, Budgam, Srinagar, Kashmir, 190001
³Directorate of Research, Shalimar, Srinagar, 190025
⁴Dry Land Agricultural Research Station, Budgam, Srinagar, Kashmir, 190001
⁵Directorate of Research, Shalimar, Srinagar, 190025
⁶Division of Genetics and Plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Government Agriculture College, Wadura, Sopore, 19320
⁷ection of PBG, Shalimar, Srinagar, 190025
⁸Mountain Research Centre for Field Crops, Khudwani, Anantnag
⁹Mountain Agriculture Research and Extension Station, Gurez, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, 191121, India
* Corresponding Author : shabirhwani@skuastkashmir.ac.in

Received : 03-09-2016     Accepted : 06-10-2016     Published : 12-01-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 2       Pages : 3647 - 3649
Int J Agr Sci 9.2 (2017):3647-3649

Keywords : Maize, Combining ability, GCA, SCA, Temperate Conditions
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : All the authors contributed equally

The present field experiment was aimed at estimating the general combining ability effects of parents and specific combining ability effects of hybrids for yield and yield attributing traits. Combining ability analysis viz. line x tester mating design was done by using seven inbred lines of maize and three testers. Ten parents and twenty one hybrids were evaluated for six traits viz. ear length (cm), ear diameter (cm), number of kernel rows ear-1, number of kernels row-1, 1000 grain weight (g) and grain yield plot-1 (Kg). The results revealed that KDM-907A x KDM 500 was the most prolific cross for grain yield plot-1 along with KDM-334A x KDM 500 and KDM-912A x KDM895A. KDM-343A, KDM-912A, KDM-902A and KDM 500 were identified as best general combiners for most of the traits and these could be utilized for development of synthetics or elite breeding populations.