Combining Ability in Sesame*

The nature of combining ability in sesame was studied in a set of 10x10 diallel. Variances for g.c.a., s.c.a. and reciprocal effects were significant. The higher magnitude of g.c.a. than s.c.a. variances indicate that the inheritance of these characters is predominantly governed by additive and additive × additive epistatic components of genetic variance. SH 50, T12, B. local and SH 62 were the best general combiners when 4 to 6 characters were considered at a time and T2xN32, Patan 64xSH 62 and Patan 64xT13 showed high s.c.a. effects for yield. The superior combinations involved all the three possible combinations between parents of high and low general combining ability effects i.e. high × high; high × low and low × low. in general, the superior combinations involved at least one high general combining parent. Significant variance for reciprocal effects indicated the presence of maternal effects.