1Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla-171 001, (H.P.).
2Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur-176 062, (HP.).
3Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow-226 002, (U.P.).
Forty five cross populations developed according to line × tester mating design along with their fourteen parents raised from true potato seeds, were used to study the relative magnitude of combining ability variances and the combining ability effects for nine characters. The variances due to general and specific combining ability showed that the non-additive component was predominant in the expression of stems/plant, main stem leaves/plant, tuber yield, average tuber weight, harvest index(%) and dry matter(%), whereas, additive component was predominant in the expression of main stem height; fresh foliage weight and tubers/plant. In general, Kufri Jyoti (tester) and JM-26; Kufri Lalima; T-1548; Ultimus (lines) were found to be good general combiners for tuber yield and its contributing characters like stems/plant, fresh foliage weight/plant and average tuber weight/plant. For tuber yield, Ultimus × Kufri Safed;. JL-2520 × Q-91; K-2500 × Kufri Jyoti; VB-8 × Kufri Safed and Kufri Lauvkar × Kufri Jyoti cross populations showed the highest specific combining ability effects. These crosses hold promise for the selection of outstanding hybrids.
