Abstract
Heterosis and combining ability studies were conducted on selected chickpea genotypes in order to (1) acquire an understanding of the predominant type of gene action governing biomass (BY) and harvest index (HI), (2) estimate the magnitude of heterosis, (3) estimate combining ability effects and (4) assess correlations between per se performance and general combining ability (GCA) of the parents under a drought-prone, rainfed short-duration environment (SDE) where BY is considered to be an important trait for enhancing chickpea productivity. The experimental material comprised 30 F1s obtained by crossing ten adapted genotypes as females to three testers as males in a line × tester design. The GCA variances were significant and of a high magnitude, while specific combining ability (SCA) variances were non-significant, indicating the predominant role of additive gene action on BY and the HI. A large number of crosses showed positive mid-parent heterosis (MPH) and better-parent heterosis (BPH). The average MPH and BPH for BY was 22.36 and 12.65, respectively, and the average MPH and BPH for the HI was 2.22 and −0.92, respectively. The higher magnitude of the MPH and BPH recorded for BY indicated that the scope for increasing the HI in chickpea in a drought-prone, SDE is limited and that further increases in productivity have to come mainly through enhanced BY. The majority of the heterotic crosses involved poor × good combiners. This study demonstrates that in order to achieve greater progress in improving BY and the HI in chickpea, the selection of parents should be based on per se performance as well as combining ability and heterosis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anoshenko BY (1998) Estimation of parental value for varieties used in plant breeding. Plant Breed 117:131–137
Arunachalam V (1977) Heterosis for characters governed by two genes. J Genet 63:15–24
Arunachalam V (1989) Genetic basis of plant breeding. In: Chopra VL (ed) Plant breeding-theory and practice. Oxford & IBH Publ, New Delhi, pp 1–18
Baker RJ (1978) Issues in diallel crosses. Crop Sci 18:533–536
Baker RJ (1984) Quantitative genetic principles in plant breeding. In: Gustafson JP (ed) Gene manipulations in plant improvement I. Plenum Press, New York, pp 147–176
Chaudhary DS, Gupta VP, Chandra S (1978) Selection based on heterosis, combining ability and early generation testing among crosses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Leg Res 1:77–86
Chopra RK, Sinha SK (1988) What limits the yield of pulses? Plant processes or plant type. In: Sinha SK, Sane PV, Bhargava SC, Agarwal PK (eds) Proc Int Congr Plant Physiol. New Delhi, India, pp 268–278
Deshmukh RB, Bhapkar DG (1981) Heterosis and combining ability for harvest index and agronomic characters in chickpea. Leg Res 4:19–22
Hegde VS (2000) Breeding for high phytomass yield and harvest index to enhance chickpea productivity in short duration environments. In: 3rd Int Crop Sci Congr. Hamburg, Germany, p 231
Hegde VS, Yadav SS, Kumar J (2005) Need for germplasm enhancement in short duration chickpea for higher productivity. Indian J Plant Genet Resour (in press)
Jain HK (1975) Breeding for yield and other attributes in grain legumes. Indian J Genet 35:169–187
Jain HK (1986) Eighty years of post-Mendelian breeding for crop yield: nature of selection pressures and future potential. Indian J Genet 46[Supplement]:30–53
Jeswani LM (1986) Breeding strategies for the improvement of pulse crops. Indian J Genet 46[Supplement]:267–280
Katiyar RP (1979) Heterosis in relation to per se performance and effects of GCA in chickpea. Indian J Agric Sci 49:313–317
Kelly TG, Parthasarathy Rao P (1994) Chickpea competitiveness in India. Econ Polit Weekly 29:89–100
Kempthorne O (1957) An introduction to genetic statistics. John Wiley and Sons, New York
Malhotra RS, Singh KB (1989) Detection of epistasis in chickpea. Euphytica 40:169–172
Pande K, Pandya BP, Jain KL (1979) Diallel analysis of yield and yield components in Bengalgram. Indian J Agric Res 13:187–194
Reddy BB, Arunachalam V (1981) Evaluation of heterosis through combining ability in pearlmillet I. Single crosses. Indian J Genet 41:59–65
Saxena NP, Johansen C (1988) Realized yield potential in chickpea and physiological considerations for further genetic improvement. In: Sinha SK, Sane PV, Bhargava SC, Agarwal PK (eds) Proc Int Congr Plant Physiol. New Delhi, India, pp 279–288
Singh KB (1974) Exploitation of heterosis in pulse crops. Indian J Genet 34A:752–756
Singh KB (1987) Chickpea breeding. In: Saxena MC, Singh KB (eds) The chickpea. CAB Int, Wallingford, pp 127–158
Singh TP, Singh KB (1974) Heterosis and combining ability in Phaseolus aureus Roxb. Theor Appl Genet 44:12–16
Tewari SK, Pandey MP (1985) Combining ability analysis for harvest index and other quantitative traits in chickpea. Crop Improv 12:42–45
Vijayakumar CHM (1987) Variability, genotypic response to Rhizobium treatment and gene action for yield, yield attributes and some quality characteristics in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). MSc thesis, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hegde, V.S., Yadav, S.S. & Kumar, J. Heterosis and combining ability for biomass and harvest index in chickpea under a drought-prone, short-duration environment. Euphytica 157, 223–230 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-007-9415-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-007-9415-5