Partial Diallel Analysis For Combining Ability in Wheat

Fifteen genotypes were crossed in a partial diallel fashion. Combining ability analysis for seven characters in two environments showed that mean squares due to general combining ability (gca) and specific combining ability (sea) were significant, the former being larger in magnitude than the latter in both environments. However, the gca/sca ratio (σ²4/σ²4) was higher for days to heading, plant height, number of grains/ear and 1000-grain weight. The good general combiners were: HD 2009 and WH 147 for total biomass, number of grains/ear, and grain yield; Raj 821 and Sonalika for early flowering, shorter height, and 1000-grain weight; HD 2122 for days to heading and plant height; P 1200 for days to heading and 1000-grain weight; and Kharchia-65 for tiller number and total biomass.