Combining Ability in Sugarcane

Combining ability for quality and quantity characters was studied in line × tester analysis of sugarcane. Significant differences for all characters for female, male, and female * male were observed. The variances due to sea were higher than due to gca for all the characters, indicating the importance of nonadditive gene action. Varieties POJ 2878, Co 775 for stalk weight, stalk girth, Kg-brix, CCS/cane, sucrose % in juice, purity coefficient and fibre % Q68, Co 6904for stalk grith, sucrose % in juice, purity coefficient, and invert sugar; and Co 1148 for mutable canes/clump, internodes/cane exhibited high gca effect, whereas crosses POJ 2878 × Co 775 and Co 7314 × Co 1148 for stalk girth, stalk weight, CCS/cane, internodes/cane,Kg-brix and sucrose % in juice; the cross BO 70 × Co 775 for sucrose % in juice and CCS/cane; and cross Co 7004 × Co 1148 for CCS/cane, stalk girth and sucrose % in juice show high sca effects. The presence of overdominance indicated that maintenance of heterozygosity would be advantageous for increasing the yield in cane which is not difficult as it is heterozygous and vegetatively propagated crop.