Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012.
* Present address: All India Co-ordinated Wheat Improvement Project, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram Wheat Laboratory, Main Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad 580 005.
The material from a 7 x 7 half diallel cross involving relatively drought tolerant inbreds of maize was raised under rainfed condition. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for gca and sca effects for ten characters studied. Among the parents, lb 1073, lb1143 and lb 1155 were found to have negative gca effect for days to 50 per cent tasseling, day to 50 per cent silking and anthesis-silking interval. On the other hand, for plant height, ear height and grain yield per plot, they had positive gca effects. The crosses viz., 18 1073 x lb 1143 and lb 1073 x lb1155 were found to have negative sca effects for days to 50 per cent tasseling, days to 50 per cent silking and anthesis-silking interval. These crosses also exhibited positive sca for plant height, ear height, number of leaves per plant and grain yield per plot.
Maize, drought tolerance traits, diallel cross, combining ability
