Heterotic Performance and Combining Ability in Sorghum

Analysis of variance revealed that mean squares due to parents all genotypes & hybrids for all the traits were highly significant indicating a considerable amount of variability among the genetic materials for various traits. The mean squares due to parents & hybrids were also highly significantly different for all the traits. Hybrids comparisons were found to be highly significant for all traits except 1000 Seed Weight Days to Maturity & Stay Green Score indicating a substantial amount of heterosis among hybrids. Among the parents male parents 72 81 & 99 were the best-performing parents for grain yield & some of the related traits. The estimates of variance due to combining ability revealed that σ2gca was found to be lower than σ2sca for all the traits except plant height & number of heads. The estimates of GCA effects of parents indicated that there was only one female line 106 & four males viz 79 96 94 & 81 which were good general combiners for grain yield & some of the related traits. The best hybrids for grain yield are 107x99 107x105 106x102 106x90 106x91 106x95 107x75 & 107x79 which showed higher significant SCA effects for grain yield & yield-related traits.