1Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
2Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
3Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
4Directorate of Planning and Monitoring, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
*E-Mail: knganesan71@gmail.com
Online published on 15 October, 2022.
In the current study, general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) studies were carried out in 15 pearl millet hybrids derived from five lines and three testers The GCA for parents and SCA for hybrids showed highly significant differences among them. The genetic variances revealed pre-dominance of non-additive gene action for all the traits studied. The correlation showed that the traits namely leaf weight, dry matter yield per plant, stem weight, plant height, leaf to stem ratio and leaf breadth had significantly positive correlation with green fodder yield per plant. Contemplating the per se performance along with combining ability studies, the parents GP15073 and FD465 exhibited superior gca, whereas the hybrids GP16016 × FD465 and GP15074 × FD465 had better sca for green fodder yield and important yield contributing traits. The hybrid GP15958 × FD465 exhibited superior performance for fodder quality traits.
Pearl millet napier cross, Combining ability, Correlation, Fodder quality, Green fodder
