Identification of superior parents and hybrids for improving pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] yield

A study involving three cytoplasmic-genetic male sterile lines and 14 diverse pollinators were crossed in a line × tester design during Kharif 2011. The resultant 42 hybrids and their parents were evaluated in a lattice design. Analysis of variance revealed that the ratio of variance due to GCA to SCA was less than unity for all the traits except secondary branches indicating that these traits may be under the influence of non additive gene action and these characters are more likely to be improved through heterosis breeding. The gca effects of parents revealed that ICPA-2043, ICPA-2047, GRG-2009-4 and ICPL-20 were good general combiners for seed yield and it’s direct components. The top three crosses exhibiting high specific combing ability effects along with their Per se performance, standard heterosis and gca status of the parents indicated that the cross combination ICPA-2047 x GRG-2009-4 was good specific combiner for seed yield per plant, number of secondary branches and number of pods per plant.