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

Combining ability for various quantitative traits viz., days to 50% flowering, plant height at flowering, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per plant, green fodder yield per plant and dry matter yield per plant were 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, GUNDRI and SSG-59-3 among males and SURAT-3 followed by SURAT-1 among females were found to be the best general combiners. The hybrids viz., SURAT-2 x PHULE AMRUTA, SURAT-1 x GUNDRI and SURAT-1 x SRF-286 were found to be the best specific crosses for green fodder yield per plant and, therefore, these can be further exploited for selection of transgressive segregants.