Combining ability of new parental lines for flowering, maturity and grain yield in Rabi Sorghum

Combining ability studies involving five females and four males revealed the presence of significant differences due to lines, testers and line × testers, indicating the presence of variability. The estimates of variance components exhibited presence of additive gene action for days to flowering, maturity and grain yield studied. Considering the general combining ability effects of parents for days to flowering, maturity and grain yield, female SL-9B and males SLR-57 and SLR-30 were good general combiners for grain yield and the female SL-39B and male SLR-66 were good general combiners for earliness. The crosses 104B × SLR-30, SL-9B × SLR-57, SL-9B × SLR-30 and 104B × SLR-57 were identified promising for improving grain yield while crosses SL-19B x SLR-66, SL-9B x SLR-66 and SL-39B x SLR-57 have been selected for breeding forearliness.