Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, 500 030, India
The nature of gene action for stem borer resistance was studied in F2 and F3 of a six variety diallel cross. Significant general and specific combining ability variances in F2 and F3, indicated that both additive and nonadditive components influence stem borer resistance. However, the higher magnitude of GCA in F3 indicated that stem borer resistance is predominantly governed by additive and additive × additive components of genetic variance. ‘IS 4664’, ‘CSV-3’ and ‘SR-18’ were good combiners. The GCA effects indicated that atleast one parent should be a good combiner in breeding for stem borer resistance.
