Studies on the general and specific combining ability effects of the parents and crosses in Pigeonpea

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to obtain the information based on the general and specific combining ability effects of the parents and crosses in Pigeonpea. The experiment took two crop seasons viz. Kharif 2014-15 and Kharif 2015-16. During the kharif season of 2014-2015, 12 parental lines i.e. 7 lines and 5 testers were sown in a Randomized Block Design (R.B.D.) with three replications to obtain data on eleven different traits for yield and yield attributes. Simultaneously. The parents B1-141-1, B3-13 among lines and ICP7035and BRG3 among testers proved to be good combiners for green pod yield / plant. Also, the line B3-13 and B1-141-1 proved to be the best combiner for secondary, number of pods / plant and number of pods /clusters. B1-141-1 proved to be the best combiner for primary branches, secondary branches, number of pods /plant and green pod yield / plant and the cross BRG2 x BRG3 exhibited the highest sca effects for plant height, days to 50% flowering, primary branches, secondary branches, number of pods / plants, green pod yield / plant and second highest sca effects for number of pods /cluster and number of seeds / pods. It also exhibited second highest value of heterobeltiosis and relative heterosis for primary branches, secondary branches, number of pods /plant and green pod yield / plant.