Studies on combining ability for grain yield and component traits in lentil

Combining ability studies were carried out through line × tester analysis involving four lines and three testers for ten quantitative traits in lentil. The relative estimates of variance due to specific combining ability (sca) were higher than variance due to general combining ability (gca) for days to flowering, days to maturity, number of pods/plant, biological yield/plant and grain yield/plant indicating the predominance of nonadditive gene action for these traits. The parents ‘LL 991’ and ‘LL 1036’ were good general combiners for days to flowering, days to maturity and grain yield/plant. The cross ‘LL 1036’ × ‘DPL 62’ exhibited significant positive sca effects for grain yield and biological yield/plant along with high per se performance, while negative sca effect for days to flowering. The study described the importance of additive and non-additive components for inheritance of yield and component traits in lentil.