Combining ability of yield and yield attributing traits in fieldpea ( Pisum sativum L.)

Combining ability analysis of six diverse genotypes of fieldpea viz., SKUA-P-8, SKUA-P-16, SKUA-P-17, SKUA-P-19, SKUA-P-42 and SKUA-P-60 crossed in all possible combinations without reciprocals for yield and yield related traits revealed significant differences among the parents and their crosses for most of the traits. The traits studied were days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of branches/plant, number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, 100- seed weight and seed yield/plant. The variances due to general combining ability (gca) and specific combining ability (sca) effects and their relationship revealed predominantly non-additive effects for the traits. None of the parents/crosses was found to be good general/specific combiner for all the traits. The parents SKUA-P-8 and SKUA-P-19 were the best general combiners for most of the traits including seed yield/ plant. Among the hybrids SKUA-P-19 x SKUA-P-17, SKUA-P-19 x SKUA-P-60 and SKUA-P-19 x SKUA-P-16 exhibited highest significant sca effects for yield and yield attributing traits.