Heterosis and combining ability for grain yield and its components in high altitude maize inbreds (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

The basic material for the present study comprised 13 parents i.e., ten diverse, vigorous and productive maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines viz., L1, L2, Ls' L4, Ls' Ls' L7, La' Lg and LlO and 3 well adapted testers of varying genetic base viz., T1 (C-15) composite, T2 (PS-66) synthetic and Ts (PMI-401) inbred line respectively. These were crossed in line x tester mating design during rabi 2001-2002 to generate 30 hybrids. These 30 hybrids and 13 parental lines with 2 standard checks viz., C-6 and Rehmat were grown in RBD with two replications in a single row plot of 5 meters length having 60cm x 25cm crop geometry in two environments during kharif 2002. The data was recorded on grain yield and yield contributing traits on ten randomly selected competitive plants. Pooled economic heterosis over environments was calculated as per standard procedure and combining ability analysis was carried as per procedure given by Kempthorne [1].