Estimation of combining ability for grain yield and yield component traits in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using half diallel analysis

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the leading food crops of the world farming and occupies significant position among the cultivated cereals. Cultivation of wheat has been the symbolic of green revolution that played pivotal role in making the nation a food surplus nation. Wheat is a member of the Poaceae family and a self-pollinated crop. India's wheat production is projected to reach 111.32 million tonnes in 2023-2024, up from 109.52 million tonnes in 2022-2023, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.64%. Wheat is used for both human and animal nutrition and plays an important role in the nutrition of rapidly growing populations both in our country and the world (Patil et al., 2024) [11] . The common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) which is good for chapatti making, bread making and bakery products is grown in whole of North India and also in Central and South India. The durum wheat which is good for 'suji', 'semya', 'sphagtii' and 'macaroni' is grown only in central and south India and that too under rainfed conditions. The dicoccum wheat is good for the south India dish 'Uppumav' (Singh et al., 2018) [14] . Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) is the main tetraploid type, its large, very hard grains yield low gluten flour that is the main source of semolina suitable for pasta, couscous, burghul and other local end-products. (Nachit 1995) [10] . It is grown under a wide range of climatic conditions from Kashmir and other mountainous regions to semi-arid regions with mild to severe winter. (Yadav et al., 2021) [19] . Since ages, wheat has been playing an important role in the economy of several countries (Singh et al., 2010) [15] . A number of biometrical techniques are extensively used for genetic evaluation of plants. Out of them, diallel, partial diallel and line X tester analyses have been frequently used by breeders for genetic study because they provide more genetic information about the material studied. Diallel mating design is used to evaluate several material in terms of combining ability variances and effects. Its provides information about general combining ability (gca) and specific combing ability (sca) variances and effects and additive (D) and dominance (H) components of genetic variance. Diallel analyses helps in the selection of suitable parents for use in the hybridization programme as well as in the choice of appropriate breeding for the genetic improvement of various quantitative traits in a crop species.

Materials and Methods

The current study was conducted during Rabi 2024 at three locations: Crop Research Farm at Kalai, Aligarh, Crop Research Farm at Saini, Kaushambi and Student Instruction Farm at CSAUAT, Kanpur. It involved 100 treatments (10 parents, 45 F 1 's and 45 F 2 's) in a Randomized Block Design. The experimental material comprised 10 parental lines: DBW-173, DBW-187, DBW-222, DBW-398, HD-3059, K-1006, PBW-386, PBW-644, HI-1563 and HI-1612. The 100 treatments (10 parents, 45 F 1 's, and 45 F 2 's) were evaluated for combining ability of nine quantitative traits in wheat. Half diallel analysis was analyzed as suggested by Sprague and Tatum (1942) [17] Fisher divided the component of variance into additive, dominance and epistatic.

Result and Discussion

Analysis of variance for combining ability revealed highly significant variances in both general and specific combining ability in both the generations for several traits. This showed the important role of both additive and non-additive gene action in the expression of these traits as reported by Srivastava (2005) [18] , Singh et al. (2012) [13] and Mallikarjuna (2014) [9] in which additive and non-additive genetic effects were involved in determining the traits. The magnitude of ðg were lower than the ðg for all the traits in both the generations except plant height in F2 generation which indicated that non-additive genetic component was higher than that of additive component for all the attributes in both the generation except plant height in F2.

Average degree of dominance (^/^) 0.5 were found more than unity for all the attributes in both the generation except plant height in F2 generation reflected over dominance gene action. ð𝑠 ð𝑔

The gca effects includes both additive and additive x additive (A x A) interaction components of genetic variability (Griffing, 1956b; Spraque, 1966) [5,16] which observed fixable genetic variance as also reported by Gillbert (1967) [4] . The additive parental effects as measured by gca affects are of practical use, whereas non-allelic interactions are unpredictable and can-not be easily manipulated. The per se performance of the parents was compared with their gca effects in both F1 and F2 generations for all the traits under study. It was concluded that the parents having high per se performance were proved to be the best general combiners for all the characters. It may be reported that if the attribute is unidirectionally controlled by a set of alleles and additive effects are important, selection of the parents on the basis of per se performance in most of the cases may be correct. But the selection of parents should be made based on their combining ability estimates. The parents may be used for simultaneous improvement in grain yield and quality attributes through an inter-mating population involving all possible combinations among themselves. These varieties may be utilized for obtaining transgressive segregants in the segregating generation or to undertake intense crossing in the early generation for getting desirable recombinants. The possible combination for multiple parents comes under central gene pool, which supplements in the faster speed of recombination and also breaking the genetic barriers if present (Jensen, 1970) [6] . In such situation mass selection with concurrent random mating (Redden and Jensen, 1974) [12] could be a useful breeding procedure in wheat. Moreover, modified mass selection or modified pedigree method in an early generation could be most useful for developing plant ideotypes for different conditions. The sca effects showing dominance and epistatic components of genetic variability would not contribute much for improvement of autogamous crops except where commercial exploitation of heterosis is feasible, the crosses involving good general combiners and showing high sca effects may be used for further breeding purposes. Desirable transgressive segregants are expected to be produce by making a large number of crosses. Jinks and Jones (1958) [7] also suggested due to non-fixable genetic effects. The diversity of origin of parents combined with additive x additive interaction effects is likely to give better recombinants in their cross combinations with high yield on the advancement of generation. Genetic diversity within a population can be an appropriate compromise between the demands for uniformity and advantage of diversity (Allard and Hansche, 1963) [1] .

Conclusion

Good general combiners were observed for all yield and yield related characters based on gca effect and per se performance of parents. On the basis of overall performance, DBW 222, K 1006 and DBW 173 were best general combiners for yield and its contributing traits including some quality traits. The parents may be used for simultaneous improvement in grain yield and quality attributes through an inter-mating population involving all possible combinations among themselves. On the basis of sca effects and per se performance, crosses DBW 398 × K 1006, DBW 187 × DBW 173, DBW 398 × PBW 644, HD 3059 × DBW 173, and HD 3059 × DBW 222 in F1 generation and DBW 398 × K 1006, DBW 398 × PBW 644, and DBW 187 × DBW 173 in F2 generation were found to be good specific combiners for grain yield per plant. Crosses HI 1563 × K 1006, HD 3059 × DBW 222 and DBW 398 × K 1006 showing high sca effects with at least one good general combiner could produce desirable transgressive segregants in subsequent generations.

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