Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-12
*Present address: Department of Plant Breeding, G. B. Pant Univ. of Agri. & Tech., Pant Nagar.
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
Estimates of σ2g (additive) and σ2d (dominance) components of genetic variance were obtained for five characters namely: synchrony of tillering, days to 50 per cent heading, tiller number, grain yield and test weight using the hierarchial system proposed by Horner et al. (1955). The analysis of the data revealed that magnitude of addtive genetic variance was low as compared to dominance component of variance for all the traits examined. The magnitude of dominance variance was highest for grain yield. The low magnitude of additive genetic variance was probably due to highly selective nature of the parents for yield and other characters which might have resulted in the fixation of gene controlling these characters at many loci. High magnitude of non-additive genes can be exploited by developing new hybrids using suitable recombinants of biparental progenies
