COMBINING ABILITY ANALYSIS IN A MAIZE DIALLEL

Abstract

Combinina IIbUity lUIIIIysis WIIS carried Ollt in an 8X8 maize' diallel for days to sDk, plant height, cob placement, kernel rows/cob, kernels/row, cob length, cob girth, I~inweight, grain yield/pllmt, and stover yieldlplant. The inbreds used in the crossing programme were
. CM 104, CM 185, CM 110, CM III, CM 3OO~CM 400, CM 500, and Inbred NLD Composite. Man squans dllll to gal, sea and redprocalswere bighly signUlCallt for aU the 10 charac:ters. The general predictability ratio indicated that the progeny performance WIIS based on both gal and sea. The inbred CM 500 is a good general combiner for maximum number of cbaracterS (5), followed by CM 185 and CM 110 (,*b for 3 cbaraders). The cross CM 500xCM 400 showed signifk:aDt desirable sea effects for 7 Ollt of total 10 characters, followed by CM 111XCM 400, which is a good specific combiner for 6 CbaracterS' 00 tbe basis of sea effects, there WIIS a good association between grain yield and llJOO..grain weight, . cob girth, kernel rows/cob and stover yield.