Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding (Jul 2010)
Heterosis in relation to combining ability for yield and quality attributes in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)
Abstract
Genetical studies on fruit yield per plant and its attributing traits alongwith quality traits like total soluble solids (TSS) andrind thickness were conducted following line x tester mating design comprising of 8 lines and 6 testers at HorticultureResearch Farm, Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur. The analysis revealed that all the parents were found goodgeneral combiners for most of the characters. However, line IGBO 65 and tester KS 327 were found best combiners for fruityield per plant. The ratio of gca variance/ sca variance were observed less than unity for all the characters which revealed thepredominance of non-additive gene action. The hybrid, IGBL 70 X PPL was found best on the basis of specific combiningability and heterosis for fruit yield per plant. A high magnitude of heterosis (115.84%) for fruit yield per plant over betterparent was observed. There was high heterosis response in most of the hybrids which supports the role of non-additive geneeffects. The heterosis in relation to combining ability for quality parameters i.e. TSS and rind thickness were also foundsignificantly high in the respective hybrids, IGBO 40 X KS 331 and IGBR 44 X IVBL 9. Indirect selection for traits such as,plant height, fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth and branches per plant could be done in order to achieve higher yieldthrough heterosis breeding in brinjal.
