Vol. 12, Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
HK Tank and RB Dubey

Abstract:
The identification of superior parental lines is the pre-requisite for hybrid maize breeding. The experimental material for present study was consisting of 42 hybrids of maize which were developed by crossing 14 inbred lines and 3 genetically diverse testers in line × tester mating design. These 17 parents along with 42 hybrids and 3 standard check hybrids were evaluated in randomized block design in three replications at three different locations. The variances due to line × tester differ significantly for all the traits indicating the predominance of inherent variability among all the cross combinations. The magnitude of SCA variance was greater than GCA variance for all the traits studied, indicating pre-dominance of non-additive variance in controlling the expression of all traits under study. Inbred lines viz., EI-2403-1, EI-170 and EI-07 were good general combiner for grain yield per plant and majority of yield contributing traits. Among the testers, tester EI-03-1 was found good general combiner for grain yield per plant and majority of yield contributing traits. Among forty-two hybrids, nine hybrids manifested positive significant SCA effects in all the environments as well as on pooled basis for grain yield per plant. Four promising hybrids EI-2159-2 × EI-090, EI-161 × EI-03-1, EI-2149-2 × EI-03-1 and EI-2403-1 × EI-090 identified based on GCA and SCA effects along with highest per se performance for grain yield per plant on pooled basis and were found suitable for heterosis breeding.