Crosses were made in a 7 x 7 diallel set, including red procals, involving diversified parents to study the inheritance of photosynthetic rate. The 42 crosses along with parents were evaluated for the trait. Combining ability analysis revealed the involvement of both additive and nonadditive gene effects with predominance of the former. The parent varieties Gowrisanna, Rasi and Halubbalu had significant and positive gca effects, indicating the possibility of using them as donors for high photosyntheticrate. The crosses Sona x Gowrisanna, Sona x Halubbalu, and Mahsuri x Rasi were found to be good specific combinations which involved at least one high general combiner.
Rice, photosynthetic rate, combining ability, diallel
