COMBINING ABILITY AND GENE ACTION STUDIES FOR GRAIN YIELD AND ITS COMPONENT TRAITS IN BARLEY (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Combining ability estimates are important genetic attributes to barley breeders for identifying desirable parent and crosses and also helps in predicting improvement via hybridization and selection. The line x tester analysis involving 3 lines and 3 testers was carried out for identification of superior combiners for their use for yield enhancement in barley. Significant differences among parents, crosses and parent vs. cross for all the 7 traits studied indicated the presence of sufficient variability that can be exploited for the development of high yielding barley hybrids. Variance of specific combining ability (SCA) were higher than the general combining ability (GCA) for all the traits which indicated the predominance of non-additive (dominant, overdominance and epistasis) type of gene action in the inheritance of the traits. Hence, selection of superior plants should be deferred to later generation. The GCA estimates suggested that if the yield traits are to be improved through hybridization and selection, then priority should be given to the male parents RD 2668 and female lines HBL 703 and HBL 704. The 2 crosses; HBL 703/RD 2668 and HBL 704/RD 2751 were found to be good specific cross combinations for grain yield and its related traits having high significant SCA.