Combining ability studies in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)

In the present investigation, a study was conducted at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2011–2012 to identify potential parents and superior crosses for yield and yield components in okra. A Line x Tester analysis was carried out with five lines and three testers, to estimate the combining ability for ten characters. The result revealed that parents and crosses significantly differed for gca and sca effects, respectively. Combining ability analysis showed higher magnitude of SCAvariance for all the characters except days to first flowering and fruit girth indicating preponderance of non additive gene action.Among the lines, L₅ (Holavanalli Local), L₂ (Thirumala Local) and among the testers, T₃ (Mallapalli Local) were identified as good parents. Among the hybrids cross combination L₅ x T₃ (Holavanalli Local x Mallapalli Local) and L₂ x T₁ (Thirumala Local x Punjab Phalgani) were found to be best specific crosses for yield per plant.