Combining ability analysis for qualitative characters in forage sorghum [Sorghum bicalor (l.) moench]

Combining ability for various qualitative traits viz., crude protein content, hydrocyanic acid content, neutral detergent fibre content and crude fibre content was studied through 3 x 15 line x tester mating design. Highly significant mean squares for gca and sca for majority of the traits indicated that sufficient variability existed for gca effects in the parents and that for the sca effects in the crosses. Higher and significant sca variance suggested a higher non-additive gene action for these traits. Parents S 1049, MP CHARI and GFS-3 among males and SURAT-1 and SURAT-2 among females were found to be the best general combiners. The hybrids viz., SURAT-1 x GFS-3 for crude protein content, SURAT-1 x GUNDRI for hydrocyanic acid content, SURAT-3 x GFS-3 for neutral detergent fibre content and SURAT-3 x AFS-30 for crude fibre content were best specific crosses and, therefore, these can be further exploited for selection of transgressive segregants.