Jul 2026· Plant cell biotechnology and molecular biology· Vol 27, pp. 413-424· 0 citations
Abstract
Aims: To evaluate the combining ability, determine the nature of gene action governing yield, oil content and associated traits, and identify superior parents and promising hybrid combinations for sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) improvement.
Study Design: Line × tester mating design.
Place and Duration of Study: Oilseeds Research Station, Latur, Maharashtra, India, during kharif 2025 (hybrid development) and rabi 2025–26 (field evaluation).
Methodology: Six cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and seven restorer lines were crossed in a line × tester mating design to generate 42 hybrids. The resulting hybrids, along with their 13 parents and three standard checks, were evaluated in a randomised block design with two replications for ten agro-morphological and quality traits. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, line × tester analysis to estimate general and specific combining ability, and assessment of gene action following the method of Kempthorne (1957).
Results: Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits studied, indicating substantial genetic variability. Line × tester analysis showed significant GCA and SCA effects for most traits, with non-additive gene action predominating for seed yield and several associated traits. Among the parents, NDCMS 2A and CMS 597A were identified as good general combiners among the lines, while NDL20, NDL3 and GMU847 were the most desirable testers for seed yield, oil content and associated traits. The crosses NDCMS 2A × NDL20, CMS 597A × NDL20, CMS 597A × NDL3, CMS 852A × GMU847 and CMS 597A × HOCL-20R exhibited desirable specific combining ability effects coupled with superior per se performance, indicating their potential for exploitation in sunflower hybrid breeding.
Conclusion: The findings indicated the involvement of both additive and non-additive gene action in the inheritance of yield, oil content and associated traits in sunflower, with the predominance of non-additive gene action for most of the characters. The identified superior combiners and promising hybrid combinations provide valuable genetic resources for the development of high-yielding and high-oil sunflower hybrids and can be effectively utilised in future sunflower breeding programmes.
Aims: To evaluate combining ability, determine the nature of gene action governing yield and yield-contributing traits, and identify superior parents and promising hybrid combinations in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.).
Study Design: Line × tester mating design.
Place and Duration of Study: Oilseeds Research Station, Latur, Maharashtra, India, during kharif 2025 (hybrid development) and rabi 2025–26 (field evaluation).
Methodology: Six cytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) lines and seven restorer lines were crossed in a line × tester mating design to generate 42 hybrids. The resulting hybrids, together with their 13 parents and three standard checks, were evaluated in a randomised block design with two replications for ten agro-morphological and quality traits. The data were subjected to analysis of variance, line × tester analysis to estimate general and specific combining ability, and assessment of gene action following Kempthorne (1957).
Results: Significant variation was observed among the 58 genotypes for all ten traits studied, indicating sufficient genetic variability for effective selection and hybrid development. Combining ability analysis revealed significant GCA and SCA effects for most traits, with SCA variance exceeding GCA variance and indicating the predominance of non-additive gene action. CMS-249A and CMS-47A exhibited desirable GCA effects for several yield-related traits, whereas EC-601924 and EC-601751 were superior restorers. The hybrid combinations DSP-11A × EC-601924, CMS-249A × RHAGPR-3, and CMS-10A × EC-601751 expressed high SCA effects together with desirable performance for yield and related traits, indicating their suitability for hybrid breeding.
Conclusion: Both additive and non-additive genetic effects contributed to the inheritance of yield and yield-contributing traits, although non-additive gene action was predominant. The identified superior parents and hybrids may be utilised in sunflower hybrid-breeding programmes to develop high-yielding hybrids.
Sharanabasava Sangamesh Ambakkanavar, M. V. Dhuppe, R. Chinmay et al.· Plant cell biotechnology and...· 0 citations
Aims: The study aims to identify the best general and specific combiners for seed yield and associated traits, and to determine the nature of gene action governing these traits in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) through a Line × Tester analysis.
Study Design: Line × Tester mating design.
Place and Duration of Study: Oilseeds Research Station, Latur, under Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, Maharashtra, India, during the 2025–26 rabi season.
Methodology: Forty-two F₁ hybrids developed using seven lines and six testers, together with their parents and a standard check, were evaluated for ten quantitative traits. Combining ability analysis was performed to estimate general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA), and the nature of gene action.
Results: Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the experimental genotypes for all ten traits, indicating substantial genetic variability. Significant variation due to lines, testers, and line × tester interactions suggested the involvement of both additive and non-additive gene effects. RLC-206 and NL-421 were identified as good general combiners, whereas SLS-145 was the best general combiner among the testers for seed yield. The crosses RLC-148 × RLC-198, RLC-206 × RLC-213, and RL-18123 × SLS-156 exhibited significant positive SCA effects for seed yield per plant. For all traits, SCA variance exceeded GCA variance, indicating the predominance of non-additive gene action.
Conclusion: The superior parents and cross combinations identified in the present investigation represent valuable genetic resources for developing high-yielding linseed cultivars. The predominance of non-additive gene action for all the traits studied suggests that breeding approaches such as heterosis breeding, recurrent selection, or biparental mating followed by selection may be effective for improving seed yield and its component traits in linseed.
P. Kshirsagar, S. Pole, M. V. Dhuppe et al.· Plant cell biotechnology and...· 0 citations
Aims: The experiment was conducted to study the general combining ability (GCA) of the parental lines and the specific combining ability (SCA) of the hybrids.
Study Design: Randomised block design
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Field Experimentation Centre of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Institute of Agriculture, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Prayagraj (UP), during 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Methodology: Four lines and five testers raised in a crossing block were crossed using the line x tester method to produce 20 hybrids during the year. The resultant 20 hybrids, along with nine parents and the check Sharda, were evaluated in a randomised block design with three replications.
Results: The analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among the 30 genotypes for all the characters studied. The hybrid SSF-1870×SSF-1240 showed the highest standard heterosis for seed yield (27.95%), number of capitula (23.83%) and number of secondary branches (17.46%). The hybrid SSF-1870×SSF-18123 showed the maximum relative heterosis of 67.84% for seed yield. The hybrid SSF-1871×SSF-1704 showed the maximum standard heterosis for oil content (14.15%), and the highest heterosis over the mid-parent for oil content was recorded by the hybrid SSF-1870×SSF-1872 (32.89%). Combining ability analysis indicated that the mean sums of squares due to SCA were higher than those due to GCA for all the traits studied, indicating the predominance of non-additive gene action among the hybrids. Among the parents, SSF-1870 and SSF-1883 emerged as consistently good general combiners across several traits, whereas none of the hybrids exhibited consistently high specific combining ability across the majority of the traits studied.
Conclusion: Among the parents, the line SSF-1870 and the tester SSF-1883 were found to be good general combiners for most of the traits, including number of secondary branches, number of capitula, harvest index, seed yield per plant, and number of seeds per capitulum.
A. Barhate, Garkar Ghrashneshwar Umrao, Jadhav Narsinha Vilas et al.· International Journal of Pla...· 0 citations
Background: Yield improvement in hybrid rice depends on identifying component traits that are reliably associated with productivity.
Aims: This study aimed to determine the nature and magnitude of genotypic associations and to assess the direct and indirect effects of yield-attributing traits on single-plant yield in rice.
Study Design: The experimental material comprised 39 F₁ hybrids, three CMS lines (evaluated through their respective maintainer lines), 13 restorer lines, and four checks. The hybrids were developed during Kharif 2025 using a Line × Tester mating design and evaluated in a Randomised Block Design with three replications.
Place and Duration of Study: The hybrids were developed during Kharif 2025 and evaluated during Rabi 2025–2026 at the experimental farm of ICAR–Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad.
Methodology: Observations were recorded for eight traits: days to 50% flowering, plant height (cm), number of productive tillers, panicle length (cm), number of filled grains per panicle, spikelet fertility (%), thousand-grain weight (g), and single-plant yield (g).
Results: Among the traits studied, the number of productive tillers exhibited the highest positive correlation with single-plant yield (r = 0.72, P < 0.01), followed by plant height (r = 0.45, P < 0.01), panicle length (r = 0.34, P < 0.01), and days to 50% flowering (r = 0.29, P < 0.05). Path coefficient analysis revealed positive direct effects on single-plant yield through the number of productive tillers (0.66987), panicle length (0.14114), number of filled grains per panicle (0.13347), and plant height (0.09584), indicating their contribution to yield improvement.
Conclusion: Therefore, prioritising the number of productive tillers, panicle length, and number of filled grains per panicle as key selection criteria could facilitate the development of high-yielding hybrid rice cultivars and contribute to sustainable improvements in rice productivity.
C. Sankaran, Ch. Damodar Raju, K. Sruthi et al.· Journal of Advances in Biolo...· 0 citations
Background: Green gram (Vigna radiata L.) is an important short-duration pulse crop, and its improvement requires reliable information on parental combining ability and the gene action governing yield-related traits.
Aims: The study aims to assess combining ability and gene action for agronomic traits using a line × tester mating design in green gram (Vigna radiata L.).
Study Design: Line × tester mating design.
Place and Duration of Study: Experimental Farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Latur, during the summer season of 2025–26.
Methodology: A line × tester mating framework comprising three female lines (TAKM-140, PANT-M-5 and SML-668), seven male testers (BMB-2302, BMB-2311, BMB-2314, BMB-2315, BPMR-32, BPMR-48 and BPMR-93) and one standard check variety (BM-2003-2) was used to develop 21 cross combinations. The 21 hybrids, their ten parents and the check variety were evaluated. Field observations were recorded for ten quantitative traits: days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of branches per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100-seed weight (g) and seed yield per plant (g).
Results: Combining ability analysis identified PANT-M-5 and testers BMB-2314, BMB-2315 and BPMR-32 as effective general combiners for seed yield and earliness. The crosses TAKM-140 × BMB-2302, PANT-M-5 × BPMR-32 and SML-668 × BMB-2311 showed significant positive specific combining ability (SCA) effects for seed yield per plant. Gene action analysis indicated that specific combining ability variance (\(σ^2_{SCA}\)) exceeded general combining ability variance (\(σ^2_{GCA}\)) for all evaluated traits. Furthermore, the variance ratio (\(σ^2_{SCA}\)/\(σ^2_{GCA}\)) was less than unity for all traits.
Conclusion: The findings indicated a predominance of non-additive gene action in the inheritance of the evaluated agronomic traits. Breeding approaches such as biparental mating or recurrent selection in early segregating generations may therefore be used to exploit this non-additive variance for crop improvement.
P. R. Khandwe, P. Wadikar, S. Sakthivel et al.· Plant cell biotechnology and...· 0 citations
Increasing grain yield remains a primary objective in rice breeding to ensure global food security. Heterosis, which exploits the superiority of F₁ hybrids over their parents, is among the most effective genetic tools for achieving yield gains. The present study was conducted at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Polasa, Jagtial district, Telangana, India, with the objective of estimating heterosis for yield, yield component and quality traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Four cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines were crossed with eight testers following a line × tester mating design during kharif 2022, generating 32 hybrids. These hybrids, along with their parents and two check varieties (KPH 4 and KPH 468), were evaluated in a randomised block design with three replications during rabi 2022–23. Observations were recorded on 13 characters, comprising days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, panicle length, number of productive tillers per plant, number of filled grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield per plant, kernel length, kernel breadth, kernel length-breadth ratio, hulling percentage, milling percentage and head rice recovery. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes for all characters studied. Heterosis estimates for mid-parent, better-parent and standard checks were variable across crosses and characters. Heterosis for grain yield per plant was attributed to the simultaneous expression of heterosis across multiple yield component traits. The highest standard heterosis for grain yield per plant was recorded in CMS 23A × IR 65514-5-2-19R-1 (32.09% over KPH 4; 16.20% over KPH 468), CMS 14A × IR 65483-14-1-1-4-13R, CMS 64A × IR 65514-5-2-19R-1, CMS 64A × JGL 29651, and CMS 64A × IR 63870-7-3-2-3-3R. Notably, CMS 14A × IR 65483-14-1-1-4-13R also exhibited the highest standard heterosis for head rice recovery (34.63% over KPH 4; 55.64% over KPH 468). These promising hybrids warrant further evaluation across locations and seasons prior to commercial release.
T. Saketh, V. G. Shankar, B. Srinivas et al.· Journal of Advances in Biolo...· 0 citations
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