Additive, dominance and epistatic variation for yield and its components in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Three testers, R-552, Garima and their hybrid R-552 x Garima, were crossed to 15 strains/varieties of linseed to estimate the epistatic, additive and dominance components of genetic variance. Modified triple test-cross analysis was done for nine metric traits. Epistasis was evident for all the characters under study except seeds/capsule. The i as well as j and l type epistasis were significant for most of the traits. Additive (D) component was important in all cases except capsules/plant, whereas dominance (H) was significant for seeds/capsule, days to maturity, 1000-seed weight, and oil content. All traits showed partial dominance, and directional element, F was nonsignificant for most of the traits, suggesting ambidirectional nature of dominance.