GENERAL AND SPECIFIC COMBINING ABILITY STUDIES IN MAIZE USING LINE X TESTER DESIGN

Information about combining ability is important for making breeding strategies. Fifteen parents involving Line × tester mating design to was carried out identify superior parental lines and crosses on the basis of their combining ability. GCA effects were highly significant for all traits. Data were recorded on ten morphological and three quality traits. Non additive effects were found important for all characters. The inbred lines L4, L5,T2 and T5 were good combiner for yield and quality traits. The hybrids L10×T2,L5×T5,L4×T2 and L9×T4 were identified to be significantly superior in term of yield and quality traits.