Vol. 12, Issue 7 (2023)

The present study was conducted during Kharif 2022 using total 56 maize entries (including 40 maize hybrids, 13 parents and 3 standard checks) to assess the combining ability for grain yield and its contributing traits. IAMI 123, IAMI 112 and HKI 163 were found good general combiner for most of the traits among all the parental line. IAMI 123 was to be a good general combiner for grain yield (q/ha), final plant stand (thousand/ha) and No of ears (thousand/ha). For 100 grain wt (g), IAMI 112 and the traits viz., final plant stand (thousand/ha), No. of ears (thousand/ha), No. of kernel rows/ ear, tester HKI 163 was to be a good general combiner. For earliness traits viz., days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% silking, days to 80% brown husk maturity IAMI 112, IAMI123 and HKI 163 were found good general combiner. Among the testers LM 13 would be a good general combiner for grain yield (q/ha), 100 grain wt (g) and ear length (cm), while BML 6 is good for earliness (days to 80% brown husk maturity) and No. of kernel rows/ear. For grain yield (q/ha) a close examine of the results with respects to sca effects indicated that only seven crosses viz., IAMI-101 X LM-13, IAMI-112 X HKI-163, IAMI-112 X CML-451, IAMI-118 X LM-13, IAMI-121 X CML-451, IAMI-123 X LM-14 and IAMI-123 X BML-6 were found significant sca among forty crosses. Therefore, these hybrids are considered as best specific combiner for grain yield (q/ha) and would be used in a hybridization programme.